Deciduous shrubs to small trees, 2-6 m tall; branches and twigs sturdy, gray or brown, terete, glabrous. Petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade thinly leathery or leathery, oblong-elliptic, 6-12 × 1.5-2 cm, base and apex acuminate or acute, margin finely crenulate to nearly entire; lateral veins and veinlets curved or bent, even in tortuous form, prominent on both surfaces. Peduncle 2-4 cm, with few flowers, rarely 7. Flowers 4-merous, 6-8 mm in diam.; petals light yellow, nearly rotund. Capsule globose or subglobose, slightly grooved, 8-10 cm in diam., pink-brown to yellow-brown, 4-lobed. Seeds yellow-brown; aril orange-red. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

This is a distinctive species in the genus and can be recognized even without flowers or fruit. The leaf blade is typically narrowly oblong and has curved or bending veins and veinlets. The record from Yunnan has not been confirmed; that from Henan results from local work.

● Forests, rock slopes, scrub; 700-2500 m. Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, ?Yunnan.