Shrubs or trees 2-10(-15) m, glabrous. Petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade ovate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic-ovate, oblong-lanceolate, or suborbicular, 2.5-13 X 1-6(-8) cm, papery or thickly so, glabrous or rarely pubescent abaxially, base rounded, truncate, subcordate, or cuneate, apex acuminate to caudate-acuminate or acute. Panicles lateral, 1 to many paired on same branch and forming an inflorescence 5-20(-27) X 3-20 cm. Pedicel 0-2 mm. Calyx 1-2 mm. Corolla white, rotate, 3-5 mm; tube ca. as long as calyx or slightly longer. Capsule long elliptic to lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm, smooth or minutely lenticellate, apex blunt, acute, to acuminate. Fl. May-Aug,fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 46*.

Syringa reticulata subsp. reticulata is endemic to Japan.

Mixed forests, grasslands, gullies, valleys; 100-2400 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, N Sichuan [Japan, Korea, E Russia].