Trees [or shrubs] [2-]4-20 m tall, to 20 cm d.b.h. Twigs grayish brown, smooth or verrucose, with ± circular lenticels. Petiole (2-)5-12 cm, adaxially with several pale glands toward rachis; petiolules 2-6(-8) mm; leaflet blades ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 7-18 × 3-8 cm, 2.5-4.5 × as long as wide, papery to thinly leathery, abaxially dusty gray, adaxially brownish green and glossy, midvein pale red, secondary veins (7-)10-15(-22) on each side of midvein, reticulate veins obvious, apex acuminate to long acuminate. Inflorescences corymbose racemes, (3-)20-30(-40)-flowered, subtended by several leaves, axis (2-)3-5(-11) cm; peduncle 4-6(-12) cm but 12-28 cm after anthesis. Pedicel 3-4(-6) cm. Sepals lanceolate, 3-5(-10) × 1.2-1.5 mm. Petals white, claw (3-)5-10 mm, blade 1.5-2.5 cm with an abruptly acuminate apex. Stamens 11-17; filaments 2.5-5 cm; anthers 2-3 mm. Gynophore (3.5-)4-6 cm; ovary oblong-ellipsoid, terete, 5-6 × ca. 2 mm. Fruit oblong-ellipsoid to oblong-ovate, 2.5-5 cm, after drying with a thin yellow gray crust that falls off to reveal a smooth subsurface; stipe 1-3 mm wide. Seeds 30-50 per fruit, dark brown, 6-15 × 6-10 × 2-3 mm, slightly flattened, dorsally irregularly crested. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Aug-Sep.
Open forests, often along streams and by lakes at elevations below 1,000 metres in southern China. Rather rare, occurring mostly along streams in shady locations, sometimes near the seashore, at elevations up to 600 metres.
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