Roots carrot-shaped or fusiform-cylindrical, 15-30 × 1-3 cm, often branched. Stems twining, 1-2 m, glabrous, branched; lateral branches 15-30 cm; branchlets 1-5 cm, sterile or fertile. Leaves on main stems and branches alternate, those on branchlets opposite; petiole 0.5-2.5 cm, sparsely shortly setose; blade abaxially gray-green, adaxially green, ovate or narrowly ovate, 1-7.3 × 0.8-5 cm, abaxially sparsely or densely appressed hirsute or villous, rarely glabrous, base subcordate, rounded, or truncate, margin crenulate, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers solitary and terminal on branches, pedicellate. Calyx adnate to ovary up to middle; lobes broadly lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 10-23 × 6-8 mm, margin subentire or sinuate, apex obtuse or acute; sinus between calyx lobes narrow and pointed. Corolla yellow-green, with purple spots inside, broadly campanulate, 1.8-2.3 × 1.8-2.5 cm, shallowly lobed; lobes deltoid, apex acute. Filaments slightly dilated at base, ca. 5 mm; anthers elongate, 5-6 mm. Stigma white setose. Capsule hemispheric at base, conical toward apex, 1-2.4 cm. Seeds numerous, red-brown to dark brown, oblong to ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 16.
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A twining herb. It climbs 2 m high. It has milky sap. It keeps growing from year to year. The stems are slender. The leaves are hairy and pale green. They are oval and 4 cm long. The flowers occur singly and are bell shaped. They are 2.5 cm long. They grow on leafy side branches.
Forests, thickets, meadows or scrub at forest margins; at elevations from 900-3,900 metres. Dense shrubby thickets, the shade of trees at forest edges, streambanks etc.
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It is a temperate plant. It is native to northern and western China. It grows between 900-3,900 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
The roots are roasted with millet or eaten raw, baked, or pickled in miso. It is used in tonic teas and soups. The dried root is used to prepare soup with spare ribs, Astragalus roots, sliced Chinese yam, dried jujube and Lycium berries. It is used as a substitute for ginseng.
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