Usually growing as a liana sometimes a climbing shrub or a shrub it can grow 5-10 tall or in length at times the stems can be up to 22 cm in diameter. It is one of the only Mallotus species to grow as a liana. Bark is dark brownish grey. Branchlets petioles and inflorescences are dull yellowish-brown. The blaze (longitudinal cut of the bark) is finely layered with an odour of green peas (Pisum sativum). The simple and broad leaves are slightly peltate. Flowers are yellowish. It flowers in China in spring and fruits from summer to fall. The species can be distinguished from other Mallotus species by its being a climber and that its upper leaf surface have more than 2 marginal extrafloral nectaries and that its fruits are (1-or) 2- or 3-locular. A molecular phylogeny study has M. repandus as a sister species of M. phillippensis (Lam.) Muell.Arg. The indumentum/hairs on the leaves of the plant are simple and multicellular a trait only found amongst the Mallotus genera in the closely related M. philippensis.