Trees to 12 m tall, with branches often armed. Branchlets purplish brown or dark brown when old, terete, lanate when young, glabrous when old; buds ovoid, apex obtuse; scales puberulous along margin. Stipules caducous, linear-lanceolate, 4–8 mm, membranous, adaxially pubescent, margin entire, apex acuminate; petiole 1.5–3 cm, initially pilose, soon glabrescent; leaf blade ovate or narrowly ovate, rarely elliptic, 4–7 × 2–5 cm, tomentose when young, glabrescent, base rounded, rarely broadly cuneate, margin obtusely serrate, apex acuminate or acute. Raceme umbel-like, 7–13-flowered; peduncle initially tomentose, glabrescent; bracts caducous, linear, 8–10 mm, membranous, both surfaces tomentose, margin entire, apex acuminate. Pedicel 2–3 cm, initially tomentose, glabrescent. Flowers 2–5 cm in diam. Hypanthium cupular, abaxially tomentose. Sepals triangular, 3–6 mm, both surfaces tomentose, margin entire, apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse. Petals white, obovate, 8–10 × 4–6 mm, base shortly clawed, apex rounded. Stamens 25–30, slightly shorter than petals. Ovary 3–5-loculed, with 2 ovules per locule; styles 3–5, nearly as long as stamens, glabrous. Pome brown, with pale dots, subglobose, 1–1.5 cm in diam.; sepals caducous; fruiting pedicel 2–3 cm, subglabrous. Fl. Mar–Apr, fr. Aug–Sep. 2n = 34*.

This tree is cultivated in Yunnan, and is often used as stock for grafting pear cultivars.

Valleys, among shrubs; 600--3000 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, W Pakistan, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].