Shrubs to 3 m tall. Young branchlets dull brown after drying, glabrous; old branchlets gray-brown, lenticellate. Leaves 4- or 5-clustered at branchlet apex, appearing pseudoverticillate, biennial; petiole 5–10 mm; leaf blade pale green abaxially, brownish after drying, dark green and shiny adaxially, oblanceolate, 5–12 × 2–4 cm, leathery or thinly so, glabrous, lateral veins 6–9-paired, slightly prominent abaxially, indistinct adaxially after drying, reticulate veins indistinct on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin flat, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, umbellate, glabrous; bracts ovate, 1–4 mm, glabrous; pedicels 5–10 mm. Sepals slightly connate at base, triangular-ovate, ca. 2 mm, glabrous. Petals free, yellow, 10–12 mm. Stamens shorter than petals, 7–8 mm. Pistil equaling stamens; ovary glabrous; placentas 3, parietal; ovules 24–27. Capsule globose, angular, 1.5–2 cm in diam., dehiscing by 3 broadly ovate (when open) valves; pericarp 1–2 mm thick, woody; pedicel 1–2 cm. Seeds ca. 8 or 21–24 per capsule, red, becoming black after drying, ca. 3.5 mm; funicle ca. 3 mm. Fl. Mar–May, fr. May–Nov.

Forests, thickets, slopes, bases of slopes, river sides; 700--2400 m. SE Gansu, W Hubei, S Shaanxi, W Sichuan, W Yunnan.