Vines woody, turning black on drying. Branches longitudinally 8--14-grooved, glabrous or sparsely or ± densely puberulous. Leaves pinnate, usually 5-foliolate; petiole 1.8--7.5 cm; leaflet blades ovate, narrowly so, or lanceolate, sometimes lanceolate-linear or orbicular-ovate, 1.5-9.5 × 0.7-6.4 cm, papery, both surfaces subglabrous or very sparsely puberulous only on basal veins, or abaxially ± densely puberulous, base rounded, broadly cuneate, or subcordate, margin entire, apex attenuate, acuminate, or acute, rarely obtuse or rounded; basal veins abaxially ± prominent. Cymes axillary or terminal, usually paniclelike and many flowered, rarely 1(-3)-flowered; peduncle 3--8.5 cm; bracts petiolate and elliptic to oblong or sessile, small, and linear. Flowers 1.2-2.2 cm in diam. Pedicel 1.4--3 cm, sparsely pubrulous. Sepals 4, white, spreading, obovate-oblong, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, 6--20 × 1.8--4 mm, abaxially puberulous near apex, adaxially glabrous, margin abaxially velutinous, apex acute. Stamens 3--6 mm, glabrous; anthers narrowly obong to linear, 2--3.5 mm, apex minutely apiculate or subobtuse. Ovaries pubescent. Style 3--5 mm, densely villous. Achenes elliptic, 5--7 × 3.5--4 mm, appressed puberulous; persistent style 1.8--4 cm, plumose.

Flora of China

The dried root is used for treating arthralgia caused by wind dampness, numbness in the extremities, and stiffness of the joints. For fish bones lodged in the throat, it is decocted in water or used with vinegar.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 202, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.