Deciduous shrubs to small trees, 3-4 m tall; branches and twigs terete, sturdy, brown or dark brown when dry. Petiole less than ca. 1 cm; leaf blade thickly papery or thinly leathery, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 7-12 × 3.5-5 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin finely serrulate, apex acuminate or acute; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, netting and disappearing before reaching margin. Peduncle slender, 6-10 cm, 1-3 × dichotomously branched with several to many flowers; pedicel thin and slender, less than 10 mm. Flowers 5-merous, 6-8 mm in diam.; sepals suborbicular, short; petals white with a little purple, obovate, apex rotund or acute, base cuneate. Capsule green to brown, or yellow-brown when dry, nearly globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diam., without wings or at most slightly 5-angled. Aril bright red. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Aug-Nov.

This species is well known and widespread throughout E Asia. The fruit is often identified as a member of Euonymus sect. Ilicifolii because the wings are too short to observe with the naked eye; however, the other characters used to separate the sections place E. oxyphyllus in E. sect. Uniloculares.

Forests, woodlands; near sea level to 2300 m. Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].