Japan Flora: Rhizomes woody, stout, creeping; stems firm, 0.5-2 m. long, profusely branched, ascending to spreading, the branches green, usually more or less prickly; leaves coriaceous, lustrous, ovate to ovate- orbicular or elliptic, 3-12 cm. long, 2-10 cm. wide, mucronate, rounded or sometimes shallowly cordate or cuneate at base, 3- to 5-nerved, smooth, sometimes glaucescent beneath; petioles 7-20 mm. long, with a long tendril near the middle on each side; umbels axillary, many-flowered, pedunculate; staminate tepals ascending, elliptic, recurved above, about 4 mm. long, the inner whorl narrower; filaments about 2/3 as long as the outer tepals, the anthers elliptic, about 0.6 mm. long; fruit red, globose, about 7 mm. in diameter. Apr. Hills and mountains;

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common. China and Korea.