Euonymus batakensis Hayata; E. huangii H. Y. Liu & Y. P. Yang; E. platycline Ohwi.

Deciduous shrubs to small trees, to 8 m tall, ca. 10 cm d.b.h.; branches and twigs gray-green to gray-brown, terete, sturdy. Petiole 5-20 mm; leaf blade thickly papery to leathery, elliptic or oblong-elliptic to ovate or obovate-elliptic, 6-13 × 1.5-7 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin crenulate, apex obtuse or mucronulate; lateral veins 8-12 pairs, curving forward, redivided and webbing with veinlets before reaching margin. Peduncle 2-6 cm, 1-3 × dichotomously branched with several to many flowers; pedicel 5-10 mm. Flowers 4-merous, 10-12 mm in diam.; sepals semirotund, persistent; petals yellow or brown-green, orbicular. Capsule 4-angled (immature), brown or yellow-brown to red-brown, 1.2-1.5(-2) × 1-1.2(-1.5) cm, 4-lobed (mature). Seeds 3-6 per locule, ellipsoid, dark brown, arillate. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Aug-Nov.

This is a typical E Asian species distributed in the Sino-Japanese region. It has ovate-oblong leaf blades that turn a fresh red or purple in late autumn, giving it high ornamental value. It is similar to Euonymus grandiflorus, which typically has narrower leaf blades and larger flowers, and is distributed in the Sino-Himalayan region from SW China to the Himalayas. In the local floras, the species has been erroneously described as evergreen.

Euonymus huangii H. Y. Liu & Y. P. Yang (Taiwania 45: 129. 2000) was published to validate the name "E. morrisonensis" Kanehira & Sasaki (Formosan Trees, rev. ed., 388. 1936, without Latin description or indication of type). It is an abnormal alpine form of E. carnosus from the high mountains of Taiwan, being smaller in stature and sometimes with only three of the four flower parts developing.

Forests, woodlands; near sea level to 2000 m, typically 200-900 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan].