Shrubs or trees, to 9 m tall, deciduous. Bark black-brown; branchlets dull black, pubescent. Leaves simple; petiole (0.2-)1-2 cm, sometimes narrowly winged; leaf blade obovate-cuneate or narrowly obovate, 8-12 × 2.5-4 cm, papery, abaxially white hairy, adaxially pubescent, lateral veins 16-20(-30) pairs, straight, more than 3/4 of them into teeth, crinite in vein axils, attenuate from middle to base, base cuneate or decurrent, margin more than 3/4 serrate, apex shortly acuminate. Panicle terminal, erect, 15-20(-30) cm long and wide, pubescent, branched 3(or 4) times. Sepals 5, broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, ciliate. Petals white or greenish yellow: 3 outer ones suborbicular, ca. 1 mm in diam.; 2 inner ones ca. 0.5 mm, bifid to half; lobes narrowly ovate, acute, outer margin ciliate. Stamens 1.5-1.8 mm. Disk 5-dentate. Pistil ca. 1.2 mm; ovary ca. 0.8 mm high. Drupe compressed-globose, 6-7 mm in diam.; endocarp triangular-ovoid, midrib prominent. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.

This species is used medicinally and as a source of good timber.

● Forests; 500-3300 m. Anhui, E Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, S Xizang, C and N Yunnan.