Trees to 20 m tall. Bark dark gray or gray-brown. Branchlets grayish, glabrous; winter buds ovoid, scales ciliate along margin. Leaves deciduous; petiole greenish or purplish green, 5-15 cm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially dark green, 10-20 × (12-)15-23 cm, subleathery, abaxially tomentose or pilose, adaxially glabrous, primary veins 5, secondary veins 10 or 11 pairs, distinct adaxially, base subcordate, 3- or 5-lobed, rarely 7-lobed; lobes ovate, margin with obtuse teeth, apex acuminate. Inflorescence racemose, ca. 8 cm, slender, pilose. Sepals 5, greenish, oblong. Petals 5, yellowish green, ca. as long as sepals, ciliate along margin. Stamens 5-8. Ovary hairy. Fruit yellowish; nutlets convex, wing including nutlet 4-6(-6.5) cm, wings spreading erectly. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep.

Forests, valleys; 1800-3100 m. Guizhou, SW Henan, NW Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, S Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India].