Shrubs, evergreen, to 4 m tall. Bark gray-brownish. Branchlets of current year quadrangular, yellowish or gray-yellowish sparsely or densely stellate-pubescent or subglabrous; branchlets of previous year purple-brownish or gray-brownish, slightly quadrangular, glabrous, with dispersed, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds ovoid-lanceolate, with 2 pairs of separate scales; scales ovate-lanceolate, glabrescent. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole reddish purple, robust, 5-15 mm, glabrous or stellate-pubescent; leaf blade green when young, black to black-brown or gray-black when dry, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, rarely broadly ovate, sometimes oblong or oblanceolate, 4-12(-16) × 2.5-5(-6.5) cm, leathery, abaxially with tiny brown glandular dots throughout, often sparsely adpressed pubescent on midvein and lateral veins, adaxially shiny, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 3-6-jugate, lowest pair elongating to upper part of blade, thus appearing ± triplinerved, pinnate, slightly arched, branched, ending in teeth or anastomosing near margin, conspicuously raised abaxially, deeply impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, inconspicuous or slightly conspicuous abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, not lobed, base acuminate to obtuse, sometimes subrounded, without glands, margin entire or serrate in upper part, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, terminal, 3-5 cm in diam.; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with (4 or)5 rays, dense, glabrous, subglabrous, or densely stellate-pubescent, with red-brown glandular dots, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles less than 1 cm, or nearly absent; bracts caducous, leaflike, green, linear to linear-lanceolate, glabrous; bracteoles scalelike. Flowers on rays of 3rd and 4th orders, not fragrant, shortly pedicellate or sessile. Calyx green; tube tubular-obconical, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; lobes broadly ovate, shorter than tube, glabrous, apex obtuse, slightly ciliate. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 4 mm in diam., glabrous; tube ca. 1 mm; lobes spreading, suborbicular, subequaling tube, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens slightly exceeding corolla, inserted at base of corolla; filaments ca. 3 × as long as anthers; anthers yellow-whitish, broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Styles slightly exceeding calyx lobes; stigmas capitate. Fruit maturing red, ovoid, ca. 8 mm, base rounded, apex rounded, glabrous; pyrenes compressed, orbicular, 3-6 mm in diam., obviously or slightly convex on dorsal side, concave or not on ventral side, apex rounded. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Dec.

● Sparse or dense forests, scrub; 100-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, ?Hainan, S Hunan, Jiangxi, SE Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.