Shrubs 2–4 m tall. Branches tortuous; branchlets brown or gray-brown, angled, pubescent when young, later glabrescent; buds long ovoid, with 2 brown scales, pubescent, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Petiole 2–4 mm, pubescent; leaf blade ovate or obovate to obovate-lanceolate or oblong, 1–2 × 0.8–1.2 cm, abaxially pubescent, sometimes subglabrous or glabrous, adaxially often glabrous, base cuneate, margin entire or obtusely 3–5-dentate above middle, apex obtuse, sometimes inconspicuously 3-lobed. Corymbs terminal, compound, 2–4.5 × 3–5 cm, many flowered; rachis and pedicels densely pubescent; pedicels 4–8 mm; bracts linear, 2–4 mm, pubescent. Flowers 5–6 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, pubescent abaxially. Sepals triangular, 2–2.5 mm, erect or spreading in fruit, apex acute. Petals white or pinkish, suborbicular, 2–3.5 × 2–3 mm, glabrous, base shortly clawed, apex entire or emarginate. Stamens ca. 20, subequaling to slightly longer than petals. Disk annular, 10-lobed; lobes broad, apex emarginate. Carpels slightly pubescent; styles shorter than stamens. Follicles slightly spreading, glabrous to pubescent or pilose; styles on abaxial side, divergent. Fl. Jul–Aug, fr. Sep–Oct.

Thickets, thicket margins, valleys, river banks, stream sides, dry places; 2300--4000 m. Gansu, W Sichuan, E and S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Nepal, Sikkim].