Shrubs or small shrubs, evergreen, to 7 m tall. Bark gray-brownish. Branchlets of current year brownish, sparsely lenticellate; branchlets of previous year gray-yellowish, terete, subglabrous, with sparse, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds ovoid-lanceolate, with a pair of separate scales; scales yellow-brown stellate-tomentose. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole green, slender, 1.5-3 cm, yellow-brown stellate-tomentose; leaf blade yellowish green when young, ovate-oblong to oblong or broadly elliptic, 8-16(-20) × 4-8 cm, thickly papery, abaxially yellow-brown stellate-tomentose, adaxially lustrous, glabrous throughout except on midvein sparsely stellate-pubescent, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 6- or 7-jugate, pinnate, arched, rarely branched, anastomosing near margin, raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, inconspicuous or slightly conspicuous abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, not lobed, base narrowed or subrounded, without glands, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a pyramidal panicle, terminal, 5-10 × 5-10 cm; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with 4-6 rays, dense, densely yellowish brown stellate-pubescent, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles 2-4 cm; bracts caducous, leaflike, green, linear-lanceolate, stellate pubescent; bracteoles scalelike. Flowers on rays of 3rd order, not fragrant, sessile or shortly pedicellate. Calyx yellowish green; tube obconical, ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; lobes triangular, ca. 1/3 as long as calyx tube, sparsely ciliate, apex obtuse. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 4 mm in diam., sparsely stellate-pubescent; tube ca. 1 mm; lobes spreading, ovate, ca. 2 × as long as tube, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens slightly shorter than corolla, inserted at base of corolla; filaments ca. 2 mm; anthers yellow, broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Styles exceeding calyx lobes; stigmas capitate. Fruit maturing intense red, oblong or broadly ellipsoid to obovoid-oblong, 7-10 × 4-5 mm, base rounded, apex acute, glabrous; pyrenes slightly compressed, oblong, ca. 7 × 4 mm, with 2 deep dorsal grooves and 1 shallow ventral groove, apex rounded. Fl. Nov-Dec, fr. Mar-Oct.

Sparse forests, scrub; 100-1400 m. SW Guangxi, SE Yunnan [N Vietnam].