Myrtus chinensis Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 1: 313. 1790. Prunus paniculata Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg. ed. 14, 463. 1784; Cotoneaster coreanus H. Léveillé; Palura chinensis (Loureiro) Koidzumi; P. chinensis var. pilosa Nakai; P. sinica Miers; Prunus mairei H. Léveillé; Symplocos chinensis (Loureiro) Druce; S. chinensis var. vestita (Hemsley) Handel-Mazzetti; S. crataegoides Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; S. hunanensis Handel-Mazzetti; S. simaoensis Qian Yi-yong; S. sinica Ker; S. sinica var. vestita Hemsley.

Shrubs or small trees, deciduous. Young branchlets glabrous or ± pilose; old branchlets glabrous. Petiole 3--7 mm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic-obovate, or broadly obovate, usually slightly rhomboid, 1.5--11 X 1--5.5 cm, membranous to thinly papery, abaxially glabrous or pubescent, adaxially glabrous or appressed hairy, base broadly cuneate to subcordate, margin sharply glandular dentate, apex acuminate to acute, lateral veins 4--10 pairs. Panicles terminal, consisting of a raceme of cymose corymbs, 2--10 cm; bracts early deciduous, usually linear, ca. 1(--3) mm, brown glandular. Pedicel 0--10 mm, slender, thickening in fruit, articulate at apex. Ovary obconic, 1--1.5 mm, glabrous or hairy, 2-locular, with 4 ovules per locule. Calyx lobes light yellow, ovate to semi-orbicular, 1--1.5 mm, sometimes abaxially hairy, margin ciliate. Corolla 3--6 mm. Stamens 25--60. Disc 5-glandular, glabrous or hairy. Drupes bluish, rarely white, ovate-globose, 3--8 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Sep-Nov.

Symplocos paniculata does not have priority from 1784, because Miquel cited “Prunus paniculata Thunb. Fl. p. 200?” with an expression of doubt. This species thus has the correct name as Symplocos chinensis (Loureiro) Druce instead of S. paniculata (Thunberg) Miquel, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi. 3: 102. 1867.

Slopes in mixed forests; 800--2500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Xizang, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam].