Shrubs. Young branchlets glabrous; old branchlets lenticellate. Leaves borne on young branchlets, sometimes appearing pseudoverticillate; petiole 8–15 mm, pubescent at first, soon glabrate; leaf blade dark green and shiny adaxially, narrowly oblong or narrowly oblanceolate, 5–8 × 1.5–2.5 cm, leathery, pubescent abaxially when young, soon glabrate, lateral veins 6–8-paired, together with reticulate veins convex abaxially and slightly concave adaxially, base cuneate, margin slightly revolute after drying, apex acute. Inflorescences in leaf axils at branchlet apex, appearing pseudoverticillate, 3–5-flowered; bracts linear-lanceolate, 6–7 mm; pedicels ca. 1 cm, glabrous or puberulous. Sepals narrowly lanceolate, 4–5 mm, puberulous, margin ciliate. Petals 8–10 mm. Stamens 6–7 mm. Ovary long ovoid, gray tomentose; placentas 3; ovules ca. 18; stipe short. Style 2–3 mm. Capsule ellipsoid, ovoid, or long cylindric, 1.2–1.8 × 0.7–1 cm, sparsely pubescent, dehiscing by 3 valves; pericarp ca. 1 mm thick, woody; placentas in middle part of valves. Seeds 5 or 6 per placenta, red, ca. 4 mm; funicle ca. 2 mm, slightly compressed. Fl. Apr–May, fr. May–Oct.

Thickets, valleys, stream sides, roadsides; 700--1000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Hunan, Jiangxi [Vietnam].