The Qilin vine is a magnificent evergreen. This perennial can sprawl for an impressive 10 to 20 meters. Its stems are covered in a protective sheath and bristling with sharp spines. The leaves are like feathers, with numerous smaller leaflets branching off from a central stalk. These leaflets are long and narrow, with pointed tips and three distinct veins running down their length. Both the leaves and their stalks are armed with sharp spines for defense.

The Qilin produces clusters of pale yellow flowers. Interestingly, these flowers are separate by sex, with male and female flowers appearing on different plants (dioecious). The flowers have six petals arranged in two circles. Male flowers boast six pollen-producing structures (stamens) with long, cone-shaped tips. Female flowers have a single seed-bearing chamber (pistil) shaped like a bottle and six sterile structures that resemble stamens. The fruit is a fleshy drupe, roughly the size of a large walnut and colored a russet brown. It’s covered in yellow scales and secretes a dark red resin that hardens into a blood-like clot when exposed to air. Each fruit contains a single seed.