Shrubs 2-4 m tall. Branchlets glabrous. Petiole 5-10 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and glossy, elliptic-oblong to broadly elliptic, rarely suborbicular, 5-9.5 × 3-6 cm, thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous or barbellate only at vein axils, midvein and secondary veins prominently raised abaxially, secondary veins in 5 or 6 pairs, ascending, reticulate veins obscure, base obtuse or rounded, margin often revolute when dry, laxly spinose serrate, apex acute or spinose. Racemes terminal, pendulous, 25-30 cm; rachis puberulous; bracts subulate, ca. 1 mm. Flowers numerous, usually 3-clustered; pedicel ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous. Calyx shallowly cupular; lobes erect at anthesis, slightly incurved apically, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, apex mucronulate. Stamens ca. 1/2 as long as petals; filaments ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong. Ovary semi-inferior. Style simple; stigma capitate. Capsule pendulous, ovoid-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Nov. 2n = 22*.

* Forests on mountain slopes, thickets, streamsides and roadsides in valleys; 1500-1700 m. Guizhou, W Hubei, SW Shaanxi, E Sichuan.