Shrubs to 4 m tall. Branchlets red-brown, glabrous; buds red-brown, ovoid, with 3 or 4 scales slightly pubescent at margin, apex obtuse. Stipules lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, membranous, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate; petiole 7–15 mm, slightly pubescent or subglabrous; leaf blade ovate or ovate-elliptic, 5–11 × 3–6 cm, glabrous on both surfaces or abaxially pubescent in vein axils, base rounded or subcordate, margin often irregularly lobed or parted, doubly serrate, apex long acuminate. Racemes 4–9 cm, many flowered; peduncle and pedicels glabrous. Flowers 6–8 mm in diam.; pedicel 1–10 mm. Hypanthium cylindric, 0.7–1.2 cm, abaxially glabrous or glandular. Sepals triangular, 3–4 mm, much shorter than hypanthium, glabrous, margin entire, apex acute to caudate-acuminate. Petals pinkish, obovate, ca. 3 mm. Stamens 10–15; filaments unequal. Ovary long ovoid, pubescent at apex; ovules 4 or 5. Follicles long ellipsoid. Seeds ovoid. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep.

Valley slopes and mixed forests; 1000--2500 m. Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.