Shrubs dwarf, tussock-forming or prostrate, 2.5–3.5 cm tall. Twigs terete, glabrous. Leaf blade pale abaxially, dark green adaxially, oblanceolate, obovate, or elliptic, 2–6(–17) × 2–7 mm, thickly papery, glabrous, veins impressed adaxially, base attenuate, decurrent into winged petiole, margin crenate-serrate, densely ciliate or white setose along petiole, apex obtuse-acute. Racemes 2- or 3-flowered; scales brown, elliptic, longer than pedicel, margin ciliate, apex acute. Pedicel ca. 5 mm. Calyx lobes triangular, 1–1.5 mm, apex acuminate. Corolla and stamens unknown. Immature drupe white-green, subglobose, 4–5 mm in diam. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul.

One of us (Stevens) questions whether this is a good species.

Low valley forests; ca. 3500 m. NW Yunnan (Zhongdian).