Shrubs 1–1.5 m tall. Branchlets spreading, red-brown, turning gray-brown or dark brown when old, slightly angled, glabrous; buds ovoid, with several scales, apex acute. Petiole 4–6 mm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate-elliptic, 1.5–3.5 × 1–1.8 cm (those on sterile branchlets to 5.5 × 2.6 cm), abaxially pubescent only in vein axils, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, margin irregularly incised serrate, sometimes doubly serrate above middle, apex subobtuse or acute. Racemes umbellate, 2–3.5 cm in diam., 6–16-flowered; pedicels 7–12 mm, to 16 mm in fruit, glabrous. Flowers 10–15 mm in diam. Hypanthium shallowly campanulate. Sepals triangular, erect in fruit, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Petals obovate or suborbicular, longer than sepals, apex obtuse. Stamens much longer than petals. Carpels pubescent; styles shorter than stamens. Follicles erect, yellowish pubescent throughout or only at apex; styles terminal, mostly erect. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep.

Mixed forests, open slopes, rocks; 100--2000 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia].