Shrubs or small trees, 2–5(–8) m tall. Young branchlets stout, glabrous, old ones red-brown, small-lenticellate. Leaves clustered at branchlet apex, biennial; petiole 1.5–3 cm, subterete; leaf blade pale green abaxially, green or dark green and shiny adaxially, brownish after drying, oblong or elliptic, rarely obovate-oblong, 10–20 × 4–8 cm, thinly or thickly leathery, glabrous abaxially, lateral veins 9–12-paired, convex abaxially, visible or prominent adaxially, reticulate veins convex abaxially, slightly concave adaxially, base cuneate or broadly so, decurrent, margin flat, reflexed after drying, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescences 3–7, in leaf axils at branchlet apex, compoundly corymbose, many branched, 4–6 cm, pubescent; primary peduncle very short or absent; secondary ones 3–4.5 cm; tertiary ones 0.8-1.3 cm; bracts lanceolate, 2–3 mm, pubescent, deciduous; pedicels 2–7 mm. Sepals free or connate only at base, ovate or broadly so, unequal, 1.2–2 mm, pubescent abaxially, margin ciliate, apex subacute. Petals free, yellow, narrowly oblong, 6–7.5 mm, apex subobtuse. Stamens ca. 5 mm. Pistils equaling stamens; ovary glabrous; placentas 2(or 3), parietal; ovules ca. 24; style ca. 2 mm. Capsule globose or subglobose, slightly compressed, 6–10 mm in diam., dehiscing by 2 valves; pericarp thinly woody, horizontally striate adaxially; placentas exserted in middle part of valves; stipe distinct or very short; persistent style slender, ca. 1.5 mm. Seeds 10–23, red, black after drying, angular, ca. 2 mm; funicle very short. Fl. Mar–Jun, fr. Jun–Dec.

Forests, thickets, valleys, ravines, slopes, cliffs, dry places; 500--2500 m. N Guizhou, SW Hubei, NW Hunan, S and W Sichuan, Taiwan.