A scandent to erect prickly shrub up to 4(—6) m tall. Leaves imparipinnate up to 20 cm long, with 1—15 pairs of leaflets; petiole 5—30 mm long; stipulate thorns slightly recurved, accrescent to 7 mm; leaflets rhomboid to ovate-lanceolate, 10—20 mm x 5—15 mm, subentire to lobed, rachis narrowly winged. Inflorescence 8—20-flowered, flowers (4—)5-merous, pedicellate, calyx small, lobes triangular, petals lanceolate, 6—9 mm x 2—4 mm, red outside, pale red to white inside, stamens (8—)10, anthers 1.5—4.5 mm long, filaments 7—10 mm long, at base with a ligule which is densely woolly at the margin, disk cup-shaped, ovary slightly lobed, styles 5—8 mm long, pubescent. Fruit a berry, 4—9 mm x 11—15 mm, exocarp coriaceous, at least 1 mm thick, endocarp hard, without suture.

Antipyretic and anti-inflammatory (dried roots).

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

Considered as a remedy against diarrhea (young shoots, stem or dried root); externally for wound healing (dried roots); in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery as well as against cholera (decoction of root bark); applied to relieve itch (crushed leaves).