Shrubs 1.5-3.5 m tall. Branchlets of previous year gray-brown, those of current year brown or purple, villous to glabrescent. Petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade ovate or broadly so, 6-12.5 × 8-10 cm, abaxially densely white villous, adaxially bristly, hairs appressed, base rounded, margin sparsely serrate, apex abruptly acuminate; leaf blade on flowering shoots ovate-elliptic to -lanceolate, 4-8.5 × 3.5-6 cm, veins 3-5, basifugal, base broadly cuneate or subrounded. Racemes 5-7(-11)-flowered, lowest pair usually at axils of normal leaves; rachis 0.2-0.3 or 5-7 cm, strigose or glabrous; pedicels 5-10 mm. Calyx tube campanulate, densely white appressed strigose; lobes ovate, ca. 5 × 3.5 mm, apex abruptly acuminate. Corolla discoid; petals white, ovate or suborbicular, 1.3-1.5 × 0.8-1.3 cm. Stamens 30-35, longest ones ca. 1 cm. Disc glabrous. Style slightly divided at apex, ca. 5 mm, glabrous; stigmas clavate, ca. 1.5 mm, shorter than anthers. Capsule obovoid, 7-9 × 4-7 mm. Seeds 1.5-2.5 mm, shortly tailed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

This species is cultivated as an ornamental.

* Thickets; 1200-1700 m. ?Fujian, ?Hebei, Henan, Hubei, W Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan.