Shrubs or small trees, deciduous, to 7 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown when young, grayish brown when old, initially sparsely villous, subglabrous when old, with prominent brownish fusiform lenticels; buds broadly ovoid, 2–4 mm, apex acute; scales dark brown, glabrous or margin puberulous. Petiole 6–10 mm, initially villous, glabrescent; leaf blade oblong or oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 6–11 × 2–5.5 cm, veins 10–15 pairs, slightly raised abaxially, abaxially yellowish gray tomentose, adaxially initially sparsely villous, glabrescent, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply serrate, apex acuminate. Compound corymbs terminal, (3–)5–8 × 5–11 cm, many flowered; rachis and pedicels glabrous or sparsely villous, glabrescent, with brownish lenticels in fruit; bracts linear or lanceolate, 2–4 mm, puberulous. Pedicel 3–8 mm. Hypanthium cupular, 3–4 mm, abaxially sparsely villous, later subglabrous or glabrous. Sepals spreading, suborbicular, 1–1.5 mm, apex abruptly pointed. Petals white, suborbicular, 4–5 mm in diam., glabrous or adaxially villous at base, base shortly clawed, apex obtuse. Stamens 20, nearly as long as petals. Ovary pilose apically; styles 2 or 3, not exceeding stamens, basally connate. Fruit reddish, obovoid or obovoid-ellipsoid, 7–10 × 6–8 mm, glabrous, minutely lenticellate; seeds blackish brown, ovoid, 5–6 mm, apex acute. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Sep–Oct.

Forests, river valleys, near water courses, fields; 400--1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang.