Fontanesia fortunei Carriere, Rev. Hort. 1859: 43. 1859; F. argyi H. Léveillé.

Shrubs or small trees to 8 m, with upright branches, glabrous. Branchlets angled. Petiole 1-5 mm; leaf blade lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or narrowly ovate, 3-12 × 0.8-2.6 cm, papery, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate; primary veins 2-8 on each side of midrib, slightly raised or adaxially somewhat impressed. Terminal panicles 2-6 cm, axillary ones 1.5-4 cm. Flowers bisexual or polygamous. Pedicel 1-2 mm. Calyx minute, parted; lobes ovate, membranous, ca. 0.5 mm. Corolla greenish white, almost parted to base; lobes ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 mm. Stamens exceeding corolla lobes or not. Samara yellow-brown, obovate to obovate-elliptic, 7-9 mm, apex emarginate. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 26*.

Fontanesia philliraeoides subsp. philliraeoides is distributed in SW Asia.

* Near gullies, by streams, or in woods; 0-800 m. Anhui, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang