A climbing branched severely urticating perennial herb or shrub, up to 9 m tall when supported, monoecious.Stems and petioles tomentellous, or retrorsely puberulous and hispid and sometimes stinging-setose.Stipules 5–6 mm long, linear-lanceolate.Petiole up to 13.5 cm long.Leaf blade 2–18.5 × 1–14 cm, triangular-ovate, acute at the apex, coarsely serrate or biserrate on the margins, deeply or widely cordate at the base, chartaceous, 5–7-nerved from the base, sparingly pubescent and setose on upper surface, whitish-tomentose and setose along the midrib and main nerves beneath; lateral nerves in 3–5 pairs, scarcely prominent above, slightly so beneath, camptodromous or craspedodromous.Inflorescences up to 11 cm long, on peduncles up to 3 cm long, leaf-opposed, mostly male with 1(2) female flowers at the base; axis tomentellous; male bracts 2–3 mm long, linear, 1-flowered; male bracteoles 1–2 mm long, subulate; female bracts and bracteoles resembling those of the male, but slightly larger.Male flowers: pedicels 2 mm long; buds turbinate; calyx lobes 1.5 × 1 mm, elliptic-ovate, obtuse, sparingly puberulous without, glabrous within; stamens 1 mm long; pistillode flat, 3-lobed, the lobes truncate at the apex.Female flowers: pedicels very short, extending to 3 mm long in fruit; calyx lobes 6, 2 × 1.5 mm, accrescent to 7 × 7 mm, each lobe 7-lobulate, the lobules linear, longer than the width of the calyx-lobe rhachis, puberulous and setose, green, the calyx-lobe rhachis lanceolate, sparingly puberulous without, glabrous within, stramineous, at length woody proximally; ovary 1.5 mm in diameter, 3-lobed, densely setose; styles 3, 1.5 mm long, connate at the base, glabrous, stigmas smooth, recurved.Fruit 4–5 × 7–8 mm, 3-lobed, smooth, puberulous and setose.Seeds 3 mm in diameter, globose, greyish-brown, unevenly finely dark brown-granulate and with scattered patches of minute whitish papillae.
