A shrub up to 6 m tall. Leaflets (1-)3, glabrous above (except for the midrib), densely greyish puberulous below, median leaflet oblong-elliptical to obovate, 2.5-9.5 cm x 1.5-4 cm, with 6-13 pairs of lateral veins, on a 1-6 mm long petiolule, lateral leaflets sessile or subsessile. Cymes terminal and axillary, arranged in panicles; calyx 3-5 mm long, obscurely 2-lipped, with 5 small teeth, corolla blue to purple or violet, throat villous inside. Fruit globose to ovoid, 5-6 mm long, black or bluish-black when mature.

Diaphoretic and diuretic (infusion of boiled roots); anthelmintic (fruits)/

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

Used in headache and tuberculosis (plant); used as a poultice to treat rheumatism, contusions, swollen testicles, and as a discutient in sprains (leaves); diluted with water and drunk to relieve headaches (sap from crushed heated leaves); in the treatment of liver diseases (roots); widely drunk in cases of fever and after childbirth (infusion of boiled roots); to treat asthmatic cough and haemorrhoids (fruits); given in the treatment of common cold, headache, watery eyes and mastitis (decoction of dried fruits).

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 656, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.