A sinistrorse-twining plant, up to 2 m (according to KOORDERS 6-14 m long); stem 1.5-4 mm diam., glabrous. Leaves opposite, higher up often spirally arranged, ovate to oblong-ovate, 2.6-8 by 2-5 cm, base cordate, apex obtuse, acute, sometimes acuminate, serrulate to serrate, sometimes crenate, on both sides puberulous to hairy, sometimes glabrous, underside often pruinose; petiole 1.5-6.5 cm. Flowers axillary, 1.5-3.8 mm. Pedicels 1-5.5 cm. Calyx lobes oblong to lanceolate, 11-23 by 3-4 mm, entire or denticulate to serrate, glabrous or puberulous to hairy. Corolla 12-35 mm, more than half-way lobed, greenish-white or yellowish-white, outside sometimes hairy, tube inside with purplish streaks or veins, lobes ovate, acuminate. Anthers c. 2-4 mm; filaments 3-8 mm, linear, broadened towards the base, glabrous. Style 5-10 mm, glabrous or hairy with 3-6 ovate-acute to elliptic lobes. Ovary (3-)4-5(-6)-celled, the outside partly concealed by the corolla, campanulate, visible part from the outside 3-4 by 3-4 mm, glabrous. Fruits sub-globular, 0.5-1.5 by 1-2.5 cm, red to dark-purple to black-bluish, at the base sustained by the persistent and patent or sometimes reflexed wine-red calyx lobes and crowned by the withered corolla; walls membranous to coriaceous, sometimes fleshy; placentas fleshy. Seeds ovoid to ovoid-cylindrical, c. 1 mm, reticulate, light brown.
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A twining herb. It grows 2 m high. It keeps growing from year to year. The roots are thickened. The stems are twining and branched. The leaves are opposite. They are heart shaped and 3-8 cm long by 2-8 cm wide. There are teeth along the edge. The flowers are in the axils of leaves. They are white or yellow-green. The fruit is a red round berry.
Hillsides and damp fertile ground by streams. Meadows and waste lands, also found along the edges of forests in mountainous areas. Open forest, mostly on forest edges, in secondary forest and thickets, sometimes in grassy fields.
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Hillsides and damp fertile ground by streams. Meadows and waste lands, also found along the edges of forests in mountainous areas. Open forest, mostly on forest edges, in secondary forest and thickets, sometimes in grassy fields.
It is a tropical plant. It grows along the edges of forests. It grows between 900-2,200 m altitude. In Yunnan, China it grows between 700-1500 m altitude. In Sichuan.
In open forest, mostly on forest edges, in secondary forest and thickets, sometimes in grassy fields, 900-2200 m. Fl. fr. Jan.-Dec.
The fruit are eaten raw. The dried root is used to prepare soup with spare ribs, Astragalus roots, sliced Chinese yam, dried jujube and Lycium berries. The leaves and stems are used as a potherb.
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Uses. The fruits are eaten and the tuberous roots are used for drugs.
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