Trees to 25 m tall; bark dark gray-brown, fissured. Branchlets purplish brown, sparsely appressed pilose. Petiole 4-7 mm, densely appressed pilose; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 4.5-12 × 2.5-4.5 cm, papery, abaxially densely pubescent, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially sparsely piose or glabrous except densely pubescent along midvein, base subcordate, subrounded, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly and sharply setiform serrate, apex caudate or caudate-acuminate; lateral veins 18-25 on each side of midvein, 3-4 mm apart. Female inflorescence erect, racemose, 3-6 cm; peduncle 1.5-2.5 cm, sparsely appressed pilose; bracts narrowly elliptic, saccate, 1-1.5 cm × 5-6 mm, membranous, sparsely appressed pilose, base rounded, setose, apex acute; veins reticulate. Nutlet light brown, ovoid-ellipsoid, 5-7 × 2-3 mm, glabrous except villous at apex, ribbed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Mixed forests; 600-1300 m. Guizhou, S Hunan (Xinning Xian: Junyun Shan), Jiangsu, SE Sichuan, Zhejiang.