Alchornea rufescens Franchet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., sér. 2, 7: 75. 1884; Acalypha giraldii Pax; Mallotus cavaleriei H. Léveillé.

Shrubs or small trees, 1.5-5 m tall. Branchlets, leaves, inflorescences, and flowers densely yellowish or whitish pubescent. Stipules lanceolate, 3-5 mm; petiole 4-10 cm; leaf blade ovate or triangular-ovate 5-14 × 3-12 cm, papery, abaxially tomentose, adaxially pilose, base obtuse, subtruncate, or slightly cordate, with 2 or 3 pairs of glands, stipels linear, 2-3 mm, with marginal glands, margin serrulate, apex acuminate; palmate veins 3(or 5). Panicles (8-)15-20 cm; bracts ovate or lanceolate, ca. 2 mm. Male flowers 3-15 per bract; pedicel ca. 3 mm; calyx globose, ca. 2.5 mm in diam.; sepals 3-5; stamens 35-60. Female flowers 1 or 2 per bract; pedicel 7-12 mm; calyx lobes 5, triangular, ca. 3 mm, outside pilose; disk 5-crenulate; ovary densely villous; style 2-3 mm, 2-lobed. Capsule 6-8 mm in diam., villous. Seeds ovoid, ca. 5 mm, verrucate. Fl. May-Oct, fr. Jul-Nov.

● Mountain slopes, usually in limestone forests or thickets; 200-1000 m. W Anhui, Gansu, N Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, E Sichuan.