Description from
Flora of China
Helwingia chinensis Batalin f. oblanceolata S. S. Chien; H. himalaica var. gracilipes W. P. Fang & T. P. Soong; H. himalaica var. lanceolata Deb; H. himalaica var. nanchuanensis (W. P. Fang) W. P. Fang & T. P. Soong; H. himalaica f. oblanceolata (S. S. Chien) W. P. Fang & T. P. Soong; H. himalaica var. parvifolia H. L. Li; H. himalaica var. prunifolia W. P. Fang & T. P. Soong; H. japonica (Thunberg) F. Dietrich var. himalaica (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Franchet; H. japonica var. nanchuanensis W. P. Fang; H. omeiensis (W. P. Fang) H. Hara & S. Kurosawa var. oblanceolata (S. S. Chien) H. Hara & S. Kurosawa.
Shrubs 2–3 m tall, deciduous; young branches yellow-brown, slender; leaf scars ± inconspicuous. Leaf petiole 1–5(–7) cm; stipules ca. 2 mm, not or 1–3-divided; leaf blade adaxially shiny green, abaxially light green, oblong-lanceolate, rarely oblanceolate or ± diamond-shaped, 5–11(–18) × 2.5–4(–5) cm, thickly papery, veins (5–)7–9, secondary and smaller lateral veins inconspicuous, base broadly cuneate to cuneate, margin glandular spiculate serrate, apex caudate-acuminate. Umbels between mid point and lower 1/3 of midvein on adaxial surface, rarely on upper part of young branches. Flowers of staminate umbels 8–20, pedicellate, 4-merous, rarely 3-merous, light green, 5–8 mm, pedicellate. Flowers of carpellate umbels (1–)3 or 4(or 5), pedicellate, 4-merous, light green, 5–6 mm; stigma 3- or 4(or 5)-divided. Fruit subglobose to oblong, ca. 5–8 mm in diam.; pedicel 1–2(–6) mm. Seeds 3 or 4, 3- or 4-ridged. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Oct.
Woods, woodland margins; (1000–)1700–3000 m. Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, N Vietnam].