Shrubs 1-2 m tall. Branchlets with prickles, puberulent when young. Leaves (5 or)7-11-foliolate; leaflet blades sessile, ovate to ovate-elliptic, 0.5-3 × 0.4-1.5 cm but terminal one to 5 × 2.5 cm, thinly papery, grayish green when dry, oil glands inconspicuous, base symmetric, margin irregularly and remotely crenulate, apex mucronate to acuminate. Inflorescences terminal; rachis with short trichomes. Perianth in 2 irregular series or 1 series, with 5-8 ± undifferentiated tepals. Male flowers: tepals lanceolate, 1.2-1.5 mm; stamens 5 or 6. Female flowers: carpels (2-)4. Fruit follicles purplish red, 4-5 mm in diam., with sparse protruding small oil glands. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Aug.