A climbing shrub 15–20 ft. high, with strong woody branches, densely clothed with spreading, almost bristly, ferruginous hairs 1/8 in. long. Petiole of full grown leaves 3–4 in. long, clothed like the branches. Leaves imparipinnate or abruptly pinnate, with 3 or 4 pairs of sessile or short-stalked, oblong or oblanceolate, erecto-patent leaflets, 2–3 in. apart, the upper pairs 1 ft. long, 3–4 in. broad, the point acute, the base subcuneate, the edge denticulate, texture subcoriaceous, upper surface pale green, glabrous, lower slightly villose upon the midrib and raised veins, ultimately glabrous. Flowers in axillary and copious terminal panicles sometimes 1 ft. long, the rachis and erecto-patent branches rigid and densely ferruginous-bristly, the lower flowers lax, solitary or 2–3 together, nearly sessile, with 1–3 linear ferruginous bracts at the base. Buds hard, oblong; the flowers 2 lines long. Sepals coriaceous, five in number, oblong or lanceolate, equal in length but not so in width, broadly imbricated, densely matted with dark brown pubescence on the back. Petals 5, equalling the sepals, brownish, narrow-oblong, about a line broad, densely grey-villose, without a scale. Stamens equalling the petals, the filaments dilated below, villose, anthers linear. Capsule woody, 1/2 in. long, 3-lobed, deeply emarginate at the apex, densely ferruginous-bristly.
