Shrubs evergreen, climbing, to 6 m tall. Old branches with large, rigid prickles; branchlets red-brown, terete, glabrous; prickles scattered, curved, short, to 5 mm, flat, gradually tapering to a broad base; branches of cultivated plants sometimes not prickly. Leaves including petiole 4–6 cm; stipules caducous, free, linear-lanceolate, membranous, margin entire, apex acuminate; rachis and petiole sparsely pubescent, usually lacking small prickles; leaflets 3–5, rarely 7, elliptic-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 2–5 × 0.8–1.8 cm, leathery, abaxially pubescent along veins, with prominent midvein, adaxially glabrous, shiny, base subrounded or broadly cuneate, margin depressed-serrulate, apex acute or slightly acute. Flowers 4–15, in simple umbels or corymbs, 1.5–2.5 cm in diam.; pedicel 2–3 cm, glabrous; bracts caducous, linear, small. Hypanthium globose or ovoid, glabrous. Sepals 5, deciduous, ovate, abaxially glabrous, adaxially white pubescent, margin entire, apex long acuminate. Petals 5, semi-double, or double, fragrant or not, white or yellow, obovate, base cuneate, apex rounded. Carpels numerous; styles free, much shorter than stamens, densely pubescent. Hip orange or black-brown, globose or ovoid, 5–7 mm in diam., glabrous, with deciduous sepals. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Oct. 2n = 14*, 28*.
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A vigorous climber. It grows 9 m high and spreads 9 m wide. It usually does not have thorns. The leaves have 3-5 leaflets. The flowers are small and white or yellow. They occur in large sprays.
Thickets, scrub, valleys, stream sides, roadsides; at elevations from 500-2,200 metres. Growing into trees or hanging down ravines and rocky places; at elevations up to 1,000 metres.
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It is native to China. In China it grows between 500-2,200 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 7-10. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs scarification.