Shrubs to 2 m. Branchlets brown to red-brown, conspicuously angled, villous initially, later glabrescent; buds ovoid-lanceolate, 5–7 × 3–4 mm, with 2 red-brown scales, pubescent when young, apex long acuminate. Petiole 2–6 mm, pubescent; leaf blade oblong, elliptic, rarely obovate, 1–2 × 0.4–0.8 cm, sericeous-villous on both surfaces or subglabrous to glabrous abaxially, base cuneate, margin entire or with a few obtuse teeth apically, apex obtuse or acute. Racemes pedunculate, umbellate, 2–4 × 1.5–3 cm, 10–18-flowered; rachis and pedicels villous or pilose; pedicels 4–8 mm; bracts narrowly oblong or linear, 2–4 mm, villous on both surfaces, margin entire, apex shortly acuminate. Flowers 5–7 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, glabrous to villous abaxially, sometimes pilose. Sepals triangular, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm, erect in fruit, apex acute. Petals white, suborbicular, 2–3 mm, about as broad as long, apex obtuse. Stamens ca. 20, nearly equaling petals. Disk annular, 10-lobed; lobes broadly orbicular. Styles shorter than stamens. Follicles straightly spreading, pubescent; styles subterminal on abaxial side. Fl. Jun–Aug, fr. Jul–Oct.

Forests, forest margins, thickets, mountain valleys, subalpine meadows, slopes, river banks; 2600--4400 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.