Benzoin fragrans (Oliver) Rehder; Lindera fragrans var. linearifolia Y. K. Li; L. rosthornii Diels; L. supracostata Lecomte var. chuaneensis H. S. Kung.

Evergreen small trees, up to 5 m tall. Bark yellow-brown, with longitudinal dehiscences and lenticels. Young branchlets blue-green or brown-yellow, slender, smooth, longitudinally striate, glabrous or white pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 5-8 mm; leaf blade pale green abaxially, green adaxially, lanceolate or narrowly ovate, glabrous or white pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially, trinerved, first pair of lateral veins elongate along margin toward leaf apex, sometimes very near margin, thin and obscure, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, apex acuminate. Umbels axillary; involucral bracts 4, 2-4-flowered inside. Male flowers yellow, aromatic; tepals 6, nearly equal in length, densely yellow-brown pubescent on outer surface; stamens 9; filaments glabrous, 2-glandular at base in 3rd whorl; glands broadly reniform, subsessile; reduced ovary narrowly ellipsoid; stigma disciform. Female flowers not seen. Fruits ovate, ca. 1 × 0.7 cm, blue-green when young, purple-black at maturity; stipes 0.5-0.7 cm, laxly pubescent; hypocarpium inflated.

The leaf blade is variable at different elevations: not shiny, 3-5 cm, papery, and white pubescent at 700-1000 m; shiny, papery or subleathery, and glabrous at 1000-1500 m; at higher elevations the first pair of lateral veins is very near the margin.

● Ditch sides or thickets on mountain slopes; 700-2100 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan.