Shrubs deciduous, 2–4 m tall, much branched. Branchlets grayish brown to grayish black, terete, initially strigose, glabrous when old. Petiole 2–3 mm, villous, sometimes subglabrous; stipules partly persistent, linear, pubescent; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 1–2 × 0.7–1.5 cm, abaxially initially villous, subglabrous when old, adaxially lustrous, glabrous, base rounded or broadly cuneate, apex obtuse, rarely acute, sometimes mucronate or emarginate. Corymbs 1–2 cm, 2- or 3(–8)-flowered; rachis and pedicels villous; bracts linear, pubescent. Pedicel 2–4 mm. Flowers 7–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium sparsely villous abaxially. Sepals triangular, 1–2 × 1.5–2.5 mm, shorter than petals, apex acute or ± obtuse. Petals pinkish, suborbicular or broadly obovate, 4–4.5 × 3–4 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 10–12, shorter than petals. Ovary pubescent apically; styles often 2, rarely 3, free, not exceeding stamens. Fruit purplish black, ellipsoid, 6–8 mm in diam., shiny, glabrous, pyrenes 1 or 2. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Sep–Oct. 2n = 68*.

Slopes, river banks, mixed forests; 1900--3000 m. W Sichuan.