Cleyera millettii Hooker & Arnott, Bot. Beechey Voy. 171. 1833; Adinandra drakeana Franchet; A. hemsleyi Handel-Mazzetti ex F. P. Metcalf.

Shrubs or trees, 2-10(-16) m tall. Young branches brown, glabrous; current year branchlets grayish brown appressed pubescent; terminal buds appressed pubescent. Petiole 3-5 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrescent; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, 4.5-9 × 2-3 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green to yellowish green and appressed pubescent when young but glabrescent, adaxially shiny green and glabrous, secondary veins 10-12 on each side of midvein and visible on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire or apically sparsely serrate, apex shortly acuminate to rarely acuminate and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary. Pedicel ca. 2 cm, slender, sparsely pubescent or glabrescent; bracteoles caducous, linear-lanceolate, 2-3 × ca. 1 mm. Sepals ovate-lanceolate to ovate-triangular, 7-8 × 4-5 mm, outside sparsely pubescent or glabrescent, margin ciliolate and glandular, apex acute. Petals white, ovate-oblong to oblong, ca. 9 × 4-5 mm, glabrous, apex acute. Stamens ca. 25, 6-7 mm; filaments ca. 3 mm, distinct or nearly so, glabrous or apically white pubescent; anthers linear-oblong, 1.5-2.5 mm, with filiform trichomes, connective exserted. Ovary globose, pubescent, 3-loculed with many ovules per locule; style 7-8 mm, completely united, glabrous. Fruit black when mature, globose, ca. 1 cm in diam., many seeded, pubescent. Seeds shiny brown. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

Thickets or forests on mountain slopes; 100-1300(-1800) m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, E Guizhou, SE Hubei, S Hunan, Jiangxi, SW Zhejiang [Vietnam].