Oreocnide rubescens (Blume) Miq.

Small trees or shrubs 2-12 m tall; bark grayish brown or gray; branchlets brown or purplish, hirsute. Stipules linear-lanceolate, 0.6-1.3 cm; petiole 1-5 cm, sparsely hirsute; leaf blade oblong or oblanceolate, 7-25 × 3-8 cm, papery, pinnately veined, secondary veins 6-9 pairs, abaxial surface sparsely hirsute on veins, adaxial surface glabrous, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin denticulate or serrulate from basal 1/3, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences in axils of fallen leaves or on older branches, pedunculate, branched dichotomously 2 or 3 times, 1-2 cm; glomerules 3-4 mm in diam. Male flowers: perianth lobes 4, oblong, connate 1/2 of length, ca. 1 mm; rudimentary ovary subclavate. Female flowers ca. 1 mm. Achene conic, ca. 1.2 mm, surrounded by a fleshy discoid cupule at base. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jul-Dec.

A tropical plant. In Indonesia it grows from sea level to 1,700 m above sea level. It grows in forests and shady locations. It grows in Yunnan in China.

The young leaves and shoots are eaten raw or steamed. The stems are boiled and then eaten with chilli sauce.

Plants can be grown from seeds.