Cinnamomum delavayi Lecomte var. mekongense Handel-Mazzetti, Anz. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Kl. 62: 218. 1925; C. delavayi var. aromaticum Lecomte ex S. K. Lee.

Shrubs or small trees, (1.5-)2-5 m tall. Bark dark brown. Branchlets slender, terete, striate, glabrous. Buds small, ovoid; bud scales compact, broadly ovate, slightly thickened, rusty sericeous, acute. Leaves alternate; petiole slender, 1-1.5 cm, concave-convex, glabrous; leaf blade glaucous and opaque abaxially, green and slightly shiny adaxially, ovate to ovate-elliptic, (4.5-)5-10 × (1.7-)2.5-4.5(-5) cm, papery or subleathery, glabrous on both surfaces, trinerved, midrib and lateral veins conspicuous on both surfaces, basal lateral veins extending up to 3/4 of blade, other lateral veins small and short, transverse veins and veinlets reticulate on both surfaces, base cuneate, apex caudate-acuminate, acumen slender, 1.5-2 cm. Glomerules axillary, (1 or)2-5(or 6)-flowered, rusty sericeous; bracts minute, triangular-subulate, less than 1 mm, rusty sericeous, acute. Pedicels slender, 5-8(-10) mm, sulcate, rusty sericeous. Flowers green-yellow, small, ca. 2.5 mm in diam. when open. Perianth tube short, less than 1 mm; perianth lobes 6, triangular ovate, subequal, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm, rusty sericeous on both surfaces, acute. Fertile stamens 9, ca. 1 mm (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ca. 1.2 mm (of 3rd whorl); filaments of 1st and 2nd whorl as wide as 1/2 of anther, much shorter than anther, all glandless, but those of 3rd whorl as wide as anther, each with 2 orbicular-reniform glands at base; anthers of 1st and 2nd whorls ovate-rectangular, truncate at apex, 4-celled, upper 2 cells small and introrse, lower 2 cells large and extrorse-lateral, but anthers of 3rd whorl oblong, obtuse or subtruncate at apex, 4-celled, upper 2 cells small and extrorse, lower 2 cells large and lateral-extrorse. Staminodes small, triangular, stalked, including stalk ca. 0.5 mm. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1.2 mm, sessile, glabrous, base rounded but attenuate at apex; style short; stigma discoid. Mature fruit red, ovoid, ca. 12 × 8.5-9 mm, apiculate; perianth cup in fruit crateriform, up to 7 mm wide on top; perianth lobes in fruit persistent, slightly dilated and wilting; fruit stalk slender, ca. 1.2 cm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Nov-May of next year.

● Thickets, sparse forests, roadsides, waterside forest margins; (1400-)1700-2300(-2700) m. SE Xizang, NW and W Yunnan.