Trees, up to 25 m tall. Branchlets slender, terete; 1-year-old branchlets glabrous, with large, elongate, and sparse lenticels and cinnamic-aldehyde-flavored bark; current year branchlets angled, covered with dirty yellow tomentose-pubescent hairs. Leaves alternate; petiole 8-12(-16) mm, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., concave-convex, dirty yellow tomentose-pubescent; leaf blade purplish glaucous abaxially, brownish and opaque adaxially, elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic, 9-13(-16) × 3-5(-7.5) cm, thinly leathery, pubescent abaxially, glabrous except scurfy-pilosulose on slightly elevated veins adaxially, triplinerved, basal lateral veins arising 2-6 mm above leaf base, oblique, with few additional veins extending to leaf margin, other lateral veins 2 or 3 pairs, arising from above 1/3 or 1/2 of leaf blade, arcuate, parallel, not interconnected, and not reaching leaf apex, transverse veins dense, curved, conspicuous abaxially and inconspicuous adaxially, base cuneate, apex acuminate. Panicles axillary in leaf axils nearly at apex of branchlet and always densely clustered, short, (2-)3-4 cm, 1-7-flowered, dirty yellow tomentose-pubescent; peduncle 1-1.5 cm or almost absent; bracts and bracteoles triangular or latter always nearly subulate, ca. 1 mm, densely covered with dirty yellow tomentose-pubescent hairs. Pedicels slightly robust, 3-6 mm. Flowers golden yellow, up to 5 mm. Perianth densely dirty yellow tomentulose outside, sericeous inside; perianth tube campanulate, ca. 2 mm; perianth lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse at apex, subequal, ca. 5 mm, outer ones ca. 3 mm wide, inner ones ca. 2.5 mm wide. Fertile stamens 9, a little shorter than perianth; filaments shorter than anthers, villous, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 large reniform glands ca. 1/2 length of filament; anthers oblong, 4-celled, 2 lower cells large and elongate, all lateral, 2 upper cells introrse or extrorse. Staminodes 3, sagittate, shortly stalked. Ovary ovoid, attenuate at apex into a style; style attaining height of stamen, hirsute; stigma dilated, discoid. Fruit ovoid, up to 2.5 × 2 cm, apiculate, attenuate at base; exocarp scabrid, glabrous except sparsely villous at apex; perianth cup in fruit shallowly discoid, ca. 0.5 cm, woody, longitudinally sulcate, sparsely dirty yellow puberulent, apex 1.2-1.4 cm wide, 6-dentate, teeth rounded at apex; fruit stalk ca. 1 cm, apex slightly dilated and up to 2.5 mm in diam. Fl. Feb-May, fr. Jun-Oct.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 1800-2500 m. S Sichuan (Pingshan), C and SE Yunnan.