Stout, clambering, woody climber to 30 metres. Leaves pinnate with toothed leaflets. Flowers greenish white 18 to 20 mm, fragrant, in large panicles, terminal or lateral. Fruits forming large, silvery grey silky masses that persist well into the winter.

Hedgerows, scrub.

July to September.

Deciduous.

Locally fairly frequent in England south of the Humber and south Wales.

Quite local in its distribution in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 50 of the 617 tetrads.