Shrubs ca. 15 m tall. Branchlets decussate, gray to gray-brown, glabrous or sparsely stellate pubescent. Petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade elliptic-oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 7-15(-18) × 2.5-6 cm, leathery, abaxially glabrous or sparsely stellate pubescent, adaxially glabrous and lustrous, secondary veins 7 or 8 on both sides of midvein, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute. Inflorescences 7-20 × 15-25 cm, glabrous or pubescent; bracts linear-lanceolate, 4-5 × 0.8-3 cm. Flowers small; pedicel 3-5 mm. Calyx tube ca. 1.5 mm; lobes 4 or 5, deltoid, glabrous. Petals white, ca. 2.5 mm. Stamens 8-10; filaments 3-6 mm. Ovary 4-6-loculed. Style stout, ca. 1 mm; stigma much dilated, 4-6-lobed. Capsule conical-turbinate, ca. 4 × 2-3 mm, 5-10-ribbed, apex truncate, with persistent style. Seeds ca. 2 mm. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Sep-Dec.

Forests in valleys; 600-1000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].