A vigorous, deciduous climber; stems slender, angled, viscid when young, sparsely hairy. Leaves ternate or doubly ternate, 3 to 8 in. long, composed of three or nine leaflets; when three they are often deeply three-lobed. Leaflets 2 to 4 in. long, ovate to lanceolate, the lateral ones of each trio oblique at the base; all with long, slender points, coarsely and irregularly toothed, sparsely downy and dark green above; paler, brighter and glabrous beneath. The base of the leaf-stalks and the nodes are hairy. Flowers usually in threes, in axillary cymes 11⁄2 to 2 in. long; sepals downy, varying on different plants from white to dull slaty purple, oblong, the margins pressed together at the base, the points rolled back, forming a bell-shaped flower 1⁄2 in. long, stuffed with yellowish-white stamens thickly clothed with silky hairs. Fruit-heads composed of numerous ovate-lanceolate carpels, each with a long, feathery tail.
Native of Japan and China; introduced from the latter country by Wilson in 1900. It flowers in October. Not one of the most promising species.