Trees, rarely shrubs, evergreen, unarmed, to 8 m tall. Young branches grayish to brownish, glabrous. Stipules linear, 8-12 mm, caducous; petiole short, 3-8(-15) mm, stout, adaxially canaliculate, often sparsely puberulent; leaf blade shiny, abaxially greenish or yellowish, adaxially green or dark green, narrowly elliptic, rarely narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, (4.5-)6-12 × 2.5-6 cm, leathery, abaxially often with bearded vein axils, adaxially glabrous, lateral veins 9-12(-15) pairs, ± prominent abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, base cuneate or rounded, margin serrate-crenate, often slightly revolute, apex acuminate to long acuminate, rarely obtuse-rounded. Flowers polygamous, 4-merous, glabrous, 2-8 clustered at leaf axils. Sepals triangular, 3-veined, adaxially medially keeled. Petals absent. Stamens shorter than sepals. Ovary in bisexual flowers globose, 3- or 4-loculed; style 3- or 4-cleft to half. Female flower with rudimentary stamens; ovary globose, abortive, without ovules; stigma short, undivided; disk slightly thick, dish-shaped, margin free. Drupe green, red at maturity, then turning black, globose, 4-5 mm in diam., with 3 or 4 stones. Seeds purple-black, obconical, ca. 2 mm, abaxially with furrow for entire length. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Oct.

● Subalpine mixed forests, forests in valleys, forest margins; 700-2800 m. W Guizhou, SW Shaanxi, Sichuan, N Yunnan.