Shrubs 1.5–2.5 m tall. Branchlets spreading, arching, brownish or purplish turning purple-brown or gray-brown when old, terete, pubescent, finally glabrous; buds ovoid, with a few scales, pubescent, apex obtuse. Petiole 2–5 mm, villous; leaf blade abaxially gray-green, oblong, obovate, or elliptic-oblong, 1–3 × 0.5–1 cm, abaxially villous, more densely so on veins, adaxially sparsely villous, base cuneate, margin entire or with a few teeth apically, apex acute, rarely obtuse. Corymbs terminal on lateral branchlets, compound, 3–4.5 cm in diam.; rachis and pedicels villous; pedicels 4–6 mm; bracts elliptic-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 4–6 × 1.5–3.5 mm, villous on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute or obtuse. Flowers 6–7 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, villous abaxially. Sepals triangular, 1–2 mm, erect in fruit, apex acute. Petals white, broadly obovate or suborbicular, 2–3 mm, almost as broad as long, apex emarginate or subobtuse. Stamens ca. 20, subequaling petals. Disk annular, 10-lobed; lobes sometimes emarginate at apex. Styles shorter than stamens. Follicles spreading, densely pubescent; styles terminal on abaxial side, slightly divergent. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.

Mountain valley forests, rocky slopes, open places, roadsides; 1000--3200 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.