Volkameria japonica Thunberg, Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 3: 203. 1780; Clerodendrum darrisii H. Léveillé; C. esquirolii H. Léveillé; C. japonicum var. album P'ei; C. kaempferi (Jacquin) Siebold; C. kaempferi var. album (P'ei) Moldenke; C. squamatum Vahl; Volkameria kaempferi Jacquin.

Shrubs 1-4 m tall. Branchlets 4-angled, pubescent to subglabrous, nodes sometimes villous. Petiole 0.5-15(-27) cm, densely yellow-brown pubescent; leaf blade subcordate, 8-35 X 6-27 cm, sparsely pubescent, abaxially densely covered with numerous peltate glands often covered with a sand-colored secretion, base cordate, margin sparsely serrulate to dentate, apex acuminate to acute. Inflorescences terminal thyrses, 15-34 X 13-35 cm; bracts and bractlets usually reddish. Calyx red, 1-1.5 cm, deeply 5-lobed, pubescent, outside sandy glandular; lobes ovate-lanceolate to ovate, 0.7-1.3 cm. Corolla white or red, tube 1.5-2.2 cm; lobes oblong, 1-1.5 cm. Stamens and style 3 X or more longer than corolla tube. Fruiting calyx much longer than fruit, becoming reflexed. Drupes green when young, blue-black at maturity, subglobose, 7-10 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. May-Nov.

Medicinal, ornamental.

Thickets in valleys, along streams, in grassy openings; 100-1200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangsu, S Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, S Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam]