Herbs woody, erect, 1-2 m tall. Petiole ca. 2 cm, puberulent; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, 5-12 × 2-5 cm, glabrous, basal veins ascending to mid leaf, lateral veins 8-10 pairs, base rounded, margin coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary or several arranged in cymes, axillary; peduncle and pedicel short. Sepals 4 or 5, 3-4 mm. Petals obovate, ± as long as sepals, glabrous. Stamens 18-22; androgynophore short, glabrous. Ovary 5-loculed, glabrous; stigma lobed. Capsule globose, obtusely angled, 5-valved, ca. 1 cm in diam., verrucose, apex truncate or slightly emarginate. Fl. summer, fr. late autumn.

Widely cultivated. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka].