Shrubs or small trees. Branchlets terete, glabrous. Petiole stout, 6-7 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, oblong or oblong-elliptic, 5.5-7 × 1.7-2.5 cm, thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, conspicuously glandular punctate, secondary veins in ca. 5 pairs, arcuate curved, tertiary veins both parallel and reticulate, secondary and reticulate veins prominent on both surfaces, margin ± revolute when dry, densely serrulate except near base, apex rounded or obtuse. Racemes axillary, often longer than leaves, 3-5 cm; rachis and pedicels sparsely puberulous; bracts early deciduous. Flowers few, usually 2- or 3-clustered, rarely solitary. Calyx shallowly cupular; lobes oblong-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Capsule turning black when dry, conical, ca. 6 mm, sparsely puberulous or subglabrous. Fr. Nov.

This species is similar to Itea coriacea, but differs in having leaves smaller, shorter than the racemes, with a short, stout petiole and a glandular blade with prominent secondary and reticulate veins and a rounded or obtuse apex.

* Streamsides. SW Guangdong (Yangchun Xian).