Shrubs 1–1.5 m tall. Branchlets slightly tortuous, brownish, turning gray-brown or dark red-brown, terete, pubescent when young, later glabrous; buds ovoid, small, with several scales, apex obtuse or subacute. Petiole 5–6 mm, pubescent; leaf blade blue-green abaxially, dark green adaxially, obovate, elliptic, or ovate, 1.5–3.5 × 1–2 cm, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces initially, glabrescent when old, veins prominent, base narrowly cuneate or broadly cuneate to rounded, margin obtusely or somewhat sharply serrate above middle or near apex, apex obtuse. Umbels terminal, pedunculate, 2–3 × 4–5 cm, more than 20-flowered; pedicels clustered, 1.2–2.2 cm, densely pubescent; bracts linear, 2–3 mm, pubescent. Flowers 6–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, pubescent abaxially. Sepals triangular or ovate-triangular, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm, usually persistent and erect in fruit, apex acute. Petals white, broadly obovate, rarely suborbicular, 2.5–3 × 3–4 mm, glabrous, base shortly clawed, apex obtuse or emarginate. Stamens 18–20, shorter than petals. Disk annular, 10-lobed; lobes broad, apex emarginate. Carpels pubescent; styles shorter than stamens. Follicles slightly spreading, pilose; styles terminal on abaxial side, divergent. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Aug.

Forests, thickets, slopes, stream sides, rocky places; 600--2000 m. Fujian, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.