Shrubs 1-4 m tall, monoecious, glabrous throughout except sometimes for pubescent petiole; branches angular, gray-brown; branchlets spreading. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, 2-2.5 mm; petiole 2-5 mm, puberulent to glabrous; leaf blade lanceolate or obliquely lanceolate, 3-10 × 1.5-4 cm, papery, green adaxially, gray-white abaxially, base obtuse or broadly cuneate, apex acute or shortly acuminate; midvein elevated on both surfaces, lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs, raised abaxially. Flowers green, in axillary clusters, male in proximal axils, female in distal axils. Male flowers: pedicels ca. 8 mm; sepals 6, oblong or obovate, 2.5-3 × ca. 1 mm, apex obtuse, margin thinly membranous; stamens 3, connate. Female flowers: pedicels short; sepals as in male; ovary globose, 6-8-locular; style column cylindric, lobed at apex. Capsules depressed globose, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., 6-8-grooved, usually with persistent sepals at base. Seeds obscurely 3-angular, red lucid. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Jun-Sep.

The bark, leaves, and fruits contain copious tannins.

● Scrub on slopes; 600-1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.