A climbing, evergreen shrub up to 12 ft, with slender, twining branches. Leaves oval or lanceolate, slender-pointed, dark green, 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄4 to 13⁄4 in. wide, quite glabrous and remotely toothed. Flower solitary on a slender stalk 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, and borne singly in the leaf-axils of the current season’s growth from June until autumn; the corolla yellowish white, 3⁄4 in. across, composed of six to nine fleshy petals. Berries scarlet, clustered in a globose head 1 to 11⁄4 in. wide.
Native of Japan, China, and Formosa; introduced in 1860. This interesting and uncommon twiner is not particularly hardy in the open, and should be given the shelter of a wall. It can be increased by cuttings of half-ripened wood put in gentle heat.
cv. ‘Variegata’. – Leaves with an irregular border of creamy white.