Daphne gardneri Wallich, Asiat. Res. 13: 388. 1820.

Trees small, to 3-4 m tall. Stem brownish red; branchlets glabrous or sparsely sericeous at apex. Petiole 4-8 mm, puberulous; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 6-10 × 2.5-3.4 cm, both surfaces appressed pubescent, base cuneate, apex acute; lateral veins 8 or 9 pairs, conspicuous. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, capitate, 3.5-4 cm in diam., 30-50-flowered; peduncle pendulous, 2-2.5(-5) cm, white sericeous at anthesis, glabrescent; bracts caducous, leaflike, narrowly lanceolate. Calyx ca. 15 mm, exterior densely white sericeous; lobes 4, yellow adaxially, ovate, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm, abaxially densely sericeous, apex acute or rounded. Disk scale lacerate. Ovary ellipsoid, ca. 5 mm, uniformly densely grayish white sericeous; style pubescent, ca. 2 mm; stigma globose, ca. 3 mm. Drupe ovoid, densely sericeous. Fl. late winter and early spring, fr. summer.

Forests, moist places; 1000-2500(-3500) m. E Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, N Myanmar, Nepal].