Japan Flora: Deciduous dioecious shrub with loosely prickly branches; leaves 8-20 cm. long, short-petiolate, the leaflets 13-23, sessile, broadly lanceo­late to narrowly ovate, 1.5-4(-5) cm. long, 6-15 mm. wide, emarginate, sometimes minutely pubescent, obtusely toothed with a pellucid gland in each sinus; inflorescence a dense many-flowered cyme, terminal on branchlets; calyx-lobes mi­nute; petals oblong, about 2 mm. long, greenish. Aug. Low mountains. 

Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common and variable. Korea, China, and Manchuria.

Korea Flora: Deciduous shrub. Height up to 3m. Winter buds and twigs: Semicircular, 1mm. Terminal buds similar to lateral buds. Thorns 3-5mm long, alternate. Leaf scars semicircular. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate compound leaves. 13-21 leaflets, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, narrowing to a concave tip, cuneate base. leaf size 1.5-5cm × 0.5-0.6cm. wavy fine serrations on margins. amall thorns on the rachis. Corymbs at branch tips, 5-10cm long, with jointed pedicels. Flowers light green, odorless. Sepals ovate-circular. Petals 2mm long, lanceolate, curling inward. stamens equal in length to petals and stand erect, protruding outward. pistil splits into 3 at the tip. Greenish-brown, 4mm long, developing black seeds.

Flowering August-September

Fruiting Mid-September to mid-October

Distribution: Northern to southern China, Taiwan, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan; throughout Korea except North Hamgyong Province.

Ecological characteristics: Light-demanding with weak shade tolerance.

Taxonomic note: Z. schinifolium var. microphylla (Nakai) T. B. Lee, known as "Jom-sancho," is an illegitimately published name.