Prunus paniculata Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg. ed. 14, 463. 1784; Cotoneaster coreanus H. Léveillé; Myrtus chinensis Loureiro; Palura chinensis (Loureiro) Koidzumi; P. chinensis var. pilosa Nakai; P. sinica Miers; Prunus mairei H. Léveillé; Symplocos chinensis (Loureiro) Druce; S. chinensis var. vestita (Hemsley) Handel-Mazzetti; S. crataegoides Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; S. hunanensis Handel-Mazzetti; S. simaoensis Qian Yi-yong; S. sinica Ker; S. sinica var. vestita Hemsley.

Shrubs or small trees, deciduous. Young branchlets glabrous or ± pilose; old branchlets glabrous. Petiole 3--7 mm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic-obovate, or broadly obovate, usually slightly rhomboid, 1.5--11 X 1--5.5 cm, membranous to thinly papery, abaxially glabrous or pubescent, adaxially glabrous or appressed hairy, base broadly cuneate to subcordate, margin sharply glandular dentate, apex acuminate to acute, lateral veins 4--10 pairs. Panicles terminal, consisting of a raceme of cymose corymbs, 2--10 cm; bracts early deciduous, usually linear, ca. 1(--3) mm, brown glandular. Pedicel 0--10 mm, slender, thickening in fruit, articulate at apex. Ovary obconic, 1--1.5 mm, glabrous or hairy, 2-locular, with 4 ovules per locule. Calyx lobes light yellow, ovate to semi-orbicular, 1--1.5 mm, sometimes abaxially hairy, margin ciliate. Corolla 3--6 mm. Stamens 25--60. Disc 5-glandular, glabrous or hairy. Drupes bluish, rarely white, ovate-globose, 3--8 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Sep-Nov.

Slopes in mixed forests; 800--2500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Xizang, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam].