A climbing, deciduous shrub 6 to 10 ft high, the shoots slender, smooth or with dark outstanding hairs. Leaves 2 to 6 in. long, 1 to 23⁄4 in. wide, rounded or broadly tapered at the base, narrowed at the apex to a short tip, glabrous, and rather metallic green above, pale and either glabrous or with a slight down on the midrib and lower ribs beneath; ribs parallel, nine to sixteen pairs; stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Flowers white, 1⁄6 in. across, produced in pyramidal panicles 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, terminal on the leafy shoots of the year; flower-stalks 1⁄8 to 1⁄6 in. long, either smooth or hairy. Fruit sausage-shaped, 1⁄3 in. long.
Native of the Himalaya, Tibet, and W. China; introduced from the last-named by Wilson in 1904 and appears to be quite hardy.