Ehretia dicksonii var. tomentosa Nakai; E. macrophylla Wallich var. tomentosa Gagnepain & Courchet.

Trees ca. 15 m tall; bark gray-brown, fissured; branches brown; branchlets light brown, pubescent. Petiole 1-4 cm, pubescent; leaf blade broadly elliptic, elliptic, ovate, or obovate, 8-25 × 4-15 cm, abaxially densely and minutely hispid, hairs discoid at base, extremely scabrous, adaxially densely pubescent, base cuneate or rotund, margin serrate, apex acute. Cymes terminal, corymbose or paniculate, 6-9 cm wide, bracteate or not; bracts linear, ca. 5 mm. Flowers sessile or nearly so. Calyx 3.5-4.5 mm, parted nearly to base; lobes oblong or ovate, pubescent. Corolla white to pale yellow, tubular-campanulate, fragrant, 8-10 mm, base ca. 2 mm wide; throat 6-7 mm wide; lobes oblong, 3-4 mm, shorter than tube. Stamens exserted from corolla; filaments 3-4.5 mm; anthers 1.5-2 mm. Style 6-9 mm, glabrous, rarely appressed pubescent, branches 1-1.5 mm. Drupes yellow, subglobose, 1-1.5 cm in diam.; endocarp divided at maturity into 2 2-seeded pyrenes. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 40*.

Planted as an ornamental tree.

Plants with abaxially glabrous, shiny leaves have been recognized as Ehretia macrophylla Wallich var. glabrescens (Nakai) Y. L. Liu (Bull. Bot. Lab. N.E. Forest. Inst., Harbin 9: 71. 1980) [E. dicksonii Hance var. glabrescens Nakai (J. Arnold Arbor. 5: 40. 1924) or E. dicksonii var. tilioides I. M. Johnston (J. Arnold Arbor. 32: 101. 1951)] and occur in thickets and forests at 100-1700 m in Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, and Xizang.

Open forests on slopes, shaded moist hillsides; 100-2300 m. Fujian, S Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, Japan, Nepal, Vietnam]