Japan Flora: Scandent shrub, the young branchlets appressed pubescent; leaves evergreen, coriaceous, lustrous, 4-10 cm. long, oblong to ovate-elliptic, obtuse, very obtuse to rounded at base, sometimes subobovate, glabrous or puberulous on nerves beneath, recurved on margin, the lateral nerves 3 to 5 pairs, more or less ascending, straight, the veinlets very prominently raised beneath, the petioles 1.5-2 cm. long, with brown appressed hairs while young; receptacles pyriform or subglobose, sometimes ellipsoidal, 3-4 cm. across, slightly pubescent only while young, the subtending bracts deciduous, the peduncles thick, 8-15 mm. long.

Honshu (Tokaido Distr. and westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu. Ryukyus, Formosa, and China.

Korea Flora: Evergreen vine attached to rocks or tree trunks in the forests of southern islands. The young branches highly branched and brownish fine hairs. Leaves alternate, thick, egg-shaped or elliptical, with a blunt tip and rounded base, (1)3-4 cm × 1-2 cm. edges smooth, but young leaves very small with a scalloped appearance, less than 1 cm long. surface hairless, but the underside hairs along the veins. 5-6 pairs of lateral veins, with small veins protruding on the underside. petiole 1.5 cm long. Mnoecious, with flowers growing from the leaf axils, 20 mm in diameter, enclosed in a round calyx. fruitsi round, 30-40 mm in diameter, and 5-10 mm long.

Sporophyte chromosome number: 26.

Flowering May to June.

Fruiting July to August.

Distribution: Southern Honshu to Okinawa in Japan; Taiwan, central and southern China, Indochina; Jeju-do, and southern islands of Jeollanamdo in Korea.