Acer bicolor F. Chun; A. bicolor var. serratifolium (W. P. Fang) W. P. Fang; A. bicolor var. serrulatum (F. P. Metcalf) W. P. Fang; A. brachystephanum T. Z. Hsu; A. campbellii J. D. Hooker & Thomson ex Hiern subsp. sinense (Pax) P. C. de Jong; A. cappadocicum Gleditsch var. serrulatum F. P. Metcalf; A. prolificum W. P. Fang & M. Y. Fang; A. sinense var. brevilobum W. P. Fang; A. sinense var. concolor Pax; A. sinense var. iatrophifolium Diels; A. sinense var. longilobum W. P. Fang; A. sinense var. microcarpum F. P. Metcalf; A. sinense var. undulatum W. P. Fang & Y. T. Wu; A. sunyiense W. P. Fang; A. tutcheri Duthie var. serratifolium W. P. Fang; Liquidambar rosthornii Diels.

Trees usually 3-5 m tall, rarely to 15 m tall, andromonoecious. Bark yellowish brown or dark brown, smooth. Branchlets slender, glabrous; winter buds small, scales 6, villous along margin. Leaves deciduous; petiole 3-5 cm, sturdy, glabrous; leaf blade 9-14 × 9-15 cm, subleathery, glabrous or glabrescent except for tufts of yellowish hairs at vein axils, base cordate or subcordate, rarely truncate, usually 5-lobed, rarely 7-lobed; lobes oblong-ovate or triangular-ovate, margin slightly serrate or undulate except near base, apex acuminate. Inflorescence pendulous, terminal, paniculate, 5-7 cm, many flowered. Pedicel ca. 5 mm, slender, glabrous. Sepals 5, light green, ovate-oblong or triangular-oblong, slightly ciliate, apex ± acute. Petals 5, white, oblong or ovate. Stamens 5-8, longer than sepals, very short in pistillate flowers. Disk thick, extrastaminal, slightly pubescent. Ovary white pilose, rudimentary in staminate flowers; style glabrous; stigmas spreading or recurved. Fruit yellowish, glabrous; nutlets ellipsoid, strongly convex, 5-7 × 3-4 mm; wing including nutlet 2-3.5 × 1-1.2 cm, wings spreading acutely, obtusely, or horizontally. Fl. May, fr. Sep.

● Forests, valleys; 500-2500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan.