Shrubs or trees, 2–5 m tall. Bark dark gray. Branches spreading; branchlets grayish brown to reddish brown, sparsely pubescent when young, glabrescent. Winter buds reddish brown, ovoid to conical, 2–4 mm; scale margins pubescent. Petiole 2–3.5 cm, glabrous or pubescent when young, with or without small nectaries; leaf blade ovate to suborbicular, (3–)5–10 × (2.5–)4–7 cm, both surfaces glabrous, pubescent, or abaxially pubescent in vein axils, base rounded to subcordate, margin obtusely minutely serrate, apex long acuminate to caudate. Flowers solitary, opening before leaves, 1.5–3.5 cm in diam. Pedicel 1–2 mm. Hypanthium purplish red outside, campanulate, outside basally glabrous or slightly pubescent. Sepals oblong-elliptic, recurved at anthesis, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Petals white with pink veins or pinkish, suborbicular to obovate. Stamens nearly as long as petals. Ovary pubescent. Drupe yellow to orangish red, sometimes tinged red, compressed globose, 1.5–2.5 cm and as broad, pubescent, glaucous or not; mesocarp 2.5–3 mm thick, dry and compact, bitter, inedible, readily separating from endocarp and splitting along ventral suture at maturity; endocarp laterally compressed globose, 1.2–2.2 cm and nearly as broad, central rib of ventral suture acute and winged, dorsal rib more obtuse, surface more smooth, base asymmetric, apex obtuse. Seed ± bitter. Fl. Mar–Apr, fr. Jun–Jul.

Forests, thickets, mountainous areas, hill grasslands, slopes, river valleys, dry sunny slopes; 400--2500 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].