A much-branched climbing perennial herb, weakly urticating, monoecious; stems from a woody rootstock, up to 2.5 m long, twining, subglabrous or sparingly puberulous, rarely evenly hispid.Stipules 3–4 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous.Petiole 0.5–3 cm long.Leaf blade 2–6 × 1.5–4.5 cm, triangular-ovate to triangular, sometimes with 2 weakly developed lateral lobes at the base, acute to subacute or obtuse at the apex, crenate to crenate-serrate or crenate-dentate on the margins, wide-cordate at the base, membranaceous, 5–7-nerved from the base, very sparingly puberulous and with a few scattered setae to almost glabrous on both surfaces; lateral nerves in 3–4 pairs, scarcely prominent above or beneath.Inflorescences up to 5.5 cm long with peduncles up to 2 cm long, terminal on lateral shoots and leaf-opposed on the main stems, composed mostly of male flowers with 1–2 female flowers below or else all male; male bracts 1 mm long, lanceolate; male bracteoles 0.7 mm long, linear-lanceolate; female bracts 2 × 1.5 mm, ovate; female bracteoles resembling the male bracts.Male flowers: pedicels 1 mm long; buds 3-lobed to subglobose; calyx lobes 1 × 1 mm, suborbicular, obtuse, subglabrous, green; stamens 3, 0.5 mm long; pistillode 3-lobed, minute.Female flowers: pedicels 0.5 mm long, extending to 2–3 mm in fruit; calyx lobes 3, 1.5 × 2 mm, accrescent to 4 × 6 mm, each lobe palmately 18–22-lobulate, the lobules linear-lanceolate, shorter than the width of the calyx-lobe rhachis, sparingly puberulous and setose, green, the calyx-lobe rhachis transversely ovate-suborbicular, sparingly puberulous and setose without, glabrous within, yellowish, only becoming slightly hardened; ovary 1.5 mm in diameter, 3-lobed, setose; styles 3, 2–3 mm long, connate to halfway, glabrous, stigmas smooth, recurved.Fruit 5 × 8 mm, 3-lobed, smooth, setose on the keels, otherwise ± glabrous.Seeds 4 mm in diameter, globose, pale greyish-fulvous, with chestnut-brown flecks, and with scattered circular patches fringed with papillae.