Styrax cavaleriei H. Léveillé; S. duclouxii Perkins; S. hookeri C. B. Clarke var. yunnanensis Perkins; S. japonicus Siebold & Zuccarini var. kotoensis (Hayata) Masamune & Suzuki; S. kotoensis Hayata; S. touchanensis H. Léveillé.

Shrubs or small trees, 4--7 m tall. Trunk to 30 cm d.b.h., bark gray. Branchlets subterete, yellow-brown stellate pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 3--7 mm; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to oblong, 3--7(--9) X 2--4 cm, sparsely stellate pubescent or glabrous except for veins, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin entire or apically remotely serrulate, apex acute, secondary veins 5--7 pairs, tertiary veins reticulate. Racemes terminal, 3--9-flowered, 3--4 cm. Pedicel 2.5--5 cm, densely stellate tomentose. Flowers 1.5--2.5(--3) cm. Calyx ca. 7 X 5 mm, membranous, truncate to obscurely 5-toothed, densely gray-yellow stellate tomentose. Corolla tube 3--5 mm; lobes ovate-oblong to elliptic, 1.2--2 X 0.4--0.6 cm. Stamens 10(or 11), included; filaments basally white villose; anthers oblong, slightly stellate pubescent. Style shorter or equal to corolla. Fruit ovoid, 1--1.5 X 0.8--1 cm, 3-valvate dehiscent, densely gray-yellow stellate tomentose, rugose when dried, apex apiculate. Seeds 1 or 2, brown, ovoid, deeply rugose. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct.

Forest thickets, on mountain slopes or in ravines; 1000--2100 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim]