Shrub 0.5-1.3 m tall, bushy. Stems spreading; branches 2(4)-lined at first, eventually terete. Leaves sessile or with petiole up to 1.5 mm long; lamina 20-45 mm long, 10-17 mm broad, elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate, apex obtuse or apiculate to rounded, base cuneate to subcordate, venation densely reticulate. Inflorescence of 1-c.15-flowered corymbose cymes; flowers 3-5 cm diameter. Sepals 4.5-10 mm long, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong to lanceolate, acute to rounded, entire, spreading or ascending in bud and fruit. Petals narrowly obovate, 20-30 mm long, slightly exceeding stamens. Stamens 25-35 in each fascicle. Ovary 2.5-4 mm long; styles c. 3.5-5 x longer than the ovary, united almost to the apex. Capsule 6-10 mm long, broadly ovoid or ovoid-conic to subglobose, without vittae or vesicles. Seeds 1-1.2 mm long, apiculate, narrowly carinate; testa shallowly linear-reticulate to linear-foveolate.

Fl. Per.: Early spring months.

Type: Miller, Figs. Pl. Gard. Diet. 2:t.151,112.1757.

Distribution: S.E. China, Taiwan. Cultivated in many parts of the world, including the plains of W. Pakistan.