Deciduous trees, to 15 m tall, ca. 45 cm d.b.h.; branches and twigs sturdy, young ones usually slender, brown or gray-brown when dry. Petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade leathery, elliptic-ovate, 6.5-10(-15) × 4-6 cm, base semirotund, attenuate, or cuneate, margin sharply double-serrulate, sometimes combined with single sharp serrulation, apex acuminate or acute; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, disappearing before reaching margin. Peduncle from new branches only, slender, 3-4 cm, 2-4 × dichotomously branched with several to many flowers; pedicel short and slender, ca. 6 mm. Flowers 4-merous, sometimes combined with 5-merous, less than 6 mm in diam.; sepals deltoid, very small; petals yellow-green or greenish yellow, ovate-rotund. Capsule pink to red when fresh, or brown to greenish brown when dry, nearly compressed globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diam., with 4 long and flat wings, up to more than ca. 1 cm, sometimes combined with 5 wings. Seeds 2; aril orange. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Aug.
Shady aspects on scrubby slopes, occasionally in forests; at elevations from 1,700-2,100 metres. Open ground or in woodland; at elevations from 2,100-3,300 metres.