Trees, over 10 m tall; trunk 30-40 cm d.b.h., all parts glabrous except for perianth lobes inside. Branchlets glaucous, longitudinally angular when dry. Petiole 1.5-3 cm; leaf blade conspicuously glaucous abaxially, lustrous adaxially, elliptic, 8-10 × 3-4 cm, leathery, midrib elevated or plane adaxially, lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs, conspicuously raised abaxially, veinlets slightly foveolate abaxially, base cuneate, apex acuminate. Panicles arising from middle and lower parts of newly sprouted branchlet, 6-10 cm, branched at top. Pedicel 5-7 mm. Flowers large, 4.5-5 mm. Perianth lobes subequal, ovate or long ovate, 4-4.5 × 2-2.2 mm, apex obtuse or acute, glabrous or glabrate outside, densely gray-yellow pubescent inside. Fertile stamens ca. 3.5 mm; filaments flat, hairy, those of 3rd series with reniform sessile or subsessile glands adnate at middle. Staminodes triangular, ca. 2 mm, with gray-yellow villous stalks. Ovary globose; style slender, erect or slightly curved, glabrous. Fl. May.

● Mountain valleys, mixed forests; ca. 700 m. SW Hubei.