Shrubs to 1.5 m. Branchlets, brown-yellow to purple-brown, slender and slightly flexuose, angled when young, glabrous; buds long ovoid, 2–5 mm, with 2 scales, puberulous initially, finally glabrous, apex acuminate. Petiole 2–5 mm, glabrous or pilose; leaf blade abaxially glaucous, oblong-elliptic to oblong-ovate, 1–5 × 0.9–2.5 cm, abaxially subglabrous to pubescent (especially on veins) or pilose, adaxially glabrous or pubescent, base cuneate to rounded, margin sharply serrate above middle or near apex, rarely entire, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Racemes pedunculate, umbellate, 1.5–3 × 1.5–2.5 cm, 4–10-flowered; rachis and pedicels glabrous or pilose; pedicels 5–15(–20) mm; bracts elliptic-lanceolate to linear, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous, caducous. Flowers 5–8 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially glabrous. Sepals ovate-triangular, 2–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm, reflexed in fruit, apex acute. Petals white, sometimes pinkish, ovate to oblong, 3–4 mm, nearly as broad as long, glabrous, base shortly clawed, apex obtuse. Stamens ca. 20, longer than petals. Disk annular, 10-lobed. Styles shorter than stamens. Follicles erect, pubescent; styles terminal, erect. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Sep.

Broad-leaved and mixed forests, forest margins, river banks, sandy hills, slopes; 600--2000 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Xinjiang [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].