Wallichia spectabilis Candolle, Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 10: 104. 1823; Eriolaena malvacea (H. Léveillé) Handel-Mazzetti; E. sterculiacea H. Léveillé; E. szemaoensis Hu; Microchlaena spectabilis (Candolle) Endlicher ex Walpers; Sterculia malvacea H. Léveillé.

Deciduous shrubs or small trees, 3-8 m tall. Branchlets stellate puberulent. Stipule pointed linear, ca. 5 mm; petiole 2-5 cm, velutinous; leaf blade ovate or broadly ovate, 8-14 × 6-13 cm, abaxially densely gray-white or brownish stellate velutinous, adaxially sparsely slightly stellate hairy, basal veins 5-7, base cordate, margin irregularly minutely dentate, apex shortly acute. Inflorescence cymose, axillary, several-flowered, densely velutinous. Pedicels as long as flowers or slightly shorter; epicalyx lobes linear-lanceolate, entire, or rarely lobed, ca. 4 mm. Sepals 4(or 5), linear-lanceolate, 1.8-2.5 cm, densely stellate tomentulose. Petals 4(or 5), white or yellowish white, obovate-spatulate, as long as sepals, stipe thick, villous. Stamens many. Ovary ovoid, 8-celled, velutinous; style basally villous; stigma many-lobed. Capsule woody, ovoid or ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 5 × 2.5 cm, verrucose and angular, deeply grooved between valves, apex obtuse or beaked. Fl. Apr-Jul.

Open forests, bushlands; 500-1300 m. NW Guangxi (Longlin), S Guizhou, S and SE Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal].