Vines perennial, herbaceous. Branches shallowly 5-grooved, sparsely puberulous or glabrous. Leaves 2-ternate or pinnate; petiole 2--5.5 cm, puberulous to subglabrous; leaflet blades narrowly ovate, ovate, or lanceolate, 1.5--5 × 0.6--2 cm, papery, undivided or sometimes 3-lobed, both surfaces sparsely puberulous only on midvein, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin entire, apex attenuate, acuminate, or acute; basal veins nearly flat on both surfaces. Cymes axillary, 1-flowered; peduncle 1.2--1.8 cm, apically puberulous; bracts ovate to broadly ovate, 0.7--4.5 cm. Flowers 3.5--6 cm in diam. Pedicel 3.5--7 cm, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous. Sepals 5 or 6, white or purplish, spreading, obovate to narrowly obovate, 2--3 × 1--1.6 cm, abaxially puberulous, adaxially glabrous, apex ± acute. Stamens 5--10 mm, glabrous; anthers linear, 4--5 mm, apex minutely apiculate. Ovaries appressed puberulous. Style 1--2 mm, puberulous, apex often circinnate. Achenes rhombic to narrowly elliptic, 5--7 × 3--4 mm, sparsely appressed puberulous; persistent style 1--3 mm, densely appressed puberulous. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Jun--Jul.