Shrubs deciduous, 2–4 m tall. Branchlets brownish or reddish brown, terete, slender, initially villous, glabrescent. Petiole 2–5(–10) mm, villous; stipules caducous, brown, linear-lanceolate, 3–5 mm, slightly villous; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 2–4(–5) × 1–2(–3) cm, veins raised abaxially and impressed adaxially, adaxially glabrous or both surfaces initially villous, gradually glabrescent, subglabrous when old, base broadly cuneate, apex acute, rarely acuminate. Corymbs 2–4 cm, 2–5-flowered; rachis and pedicels villous; bracts linear-lanceolate, 3–5 mm, slightly pilose. Pedicel 3–5 mm. Flowers 7–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate or shortly cylindric, abaxially glabrous or villous. Sepals triangular, 1–2 × 1.5–2 mm, apex acute or ± obtuse. Petals erect, white, tinged reddish, broadly obovate or oblong, 3.5–4.5 × 3–4 mm, glabrous, base somewhat long clawed, apex obtuse. Stamens 10–15, shorter than petals. Ovary densely villous apically; styles often 2, free, not exceeding stamens. Fruit black, ellipsoid, obovoid, or subglobose, 6–8(–10) mm in diam., villous, pyrenes 2 or 3. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep.

Slopes, foothills, gullies, forests, forest margins, thickets, mountain valleys, exposed grasslands; 1000--3700 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Mongolia, Russia].