Shrubs, deciduous, to 2.5 m tall. Bark light brown. Branchlets of current year grayish brown, glabrous; branchlets of previous year gray-white, terete, glabrous, with dispersed, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds ovoid-oblong, 8-10 mm, acute, with 2 pairs of separate scales; scales outer ones ca. 1/2 as long as inner ones. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole green, slender, (1-) 2-4.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade green when young, broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, rarely obovate, 9-14(-18) × 5-13 cm, papery, abaxially sparsely adpressed hairy on midvein and lateral veins or glabrous and stellate-pubescent in vein axils, adaxially glabrous, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 5-7-jugate, lowest pair elongating to upper part of blade, thus appearing ± triplinerved, pinnate, straight or slightly arched, branched, ending in teeth, conspicuously raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, slightly raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, not lobed, base rounded or shallowly cordate, sometimes truncate, without glands, margin remotely irregularly dentate, apex abruptly and shortly acuminate or abruptly narrowed and long mucronate, sometimes (2 or)3-lobed. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, terminal, 5(-9) cm in diam.; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with (6 or)7 rays, dense, pubescent, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles (5-) 6-10(-12.5) cm; bracts and bracteoles deciduous, leaflike, green, lanceolate, sparsely hairy. Flowers on rays of 3rd and 4th orders, not fragrant, shortly pedicellate or sessile. Calyx green; tube cylindric, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; lobes broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, ciliate, apex obtuse. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 5 mm in diam., glabrous; tube ca. 1.2 mm; lobes spreading, suborbicular, ca. 1 mm, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens obviously exceeding corolla, inserted at base of corolla; filaments 4-5 mm; anthers yellow-whitish, broadly oblong-elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Styles exceeding calyx lobes; stigmas capitate. Fruit maturing red, narrowly orbicular to orbicular, ca. 9 × 6 mm, base rounded, apex rounded, glabrous; pyrenes compressed, obovoid, 6-8 × 5-6 mm, with 2 shallow dorsal grooves and 3 shallow ventral grooves, apex rounded. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Forests, thickets; 600-1300 m. Anhui, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, N Jiangxi, NW Zhejiang.