Shrubs 1.5-4 m tall. Branchlets of previous year gray or grayish brown, those of current year purple, white villous or glabrescent. Petiole 2-6 mm; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 3.5-7 × 2.5-4.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous, or abaxially sparsely villous along veins or densely white villous, base cuneate or broadly so, margin entire or serrate distally, apex acute or acuminate; leaves on flowering shoots with petiole 2-3 mm, leaf blade ovate, elliptic-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-4 × 0.5-1.5 cm, veins 3, basifugal, base cuneate or broadly so, margin subentire, apex obtuse or acute. Racemes 5-7(-9)-flowered; rachis purple, 2-10 cm, glabrous or sparsely pilose; pedicels 3-5 mm, glabrous. Calyx purple or dark brown; tube glaucous, spotted, urn-shaped, sparsely pubescent to glabrescent; lobes ovate, ca. 5 × 3.5 mm, apex acute. Corolla discoid; petals white, elliptic-obovate or broadly obovate, 1-1.5 × 8-13 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens 25-33, longest ones ca. 7 mm. Disc sometimes sparsely white villous. Style slightly divided or entire, ca. 6 mm, glabrous or sometimes sparsely villous; stigmas clavate, 1-1.5 mm, shorter than anthers. Capsule ovoid, 6-8 × 4-6 mm. Seeds ca. 3 mm, shortly tailed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep.
Alpine scrub, 2750-3200 metres. Mixed forests, thickets and mountain slopes; at elevations from 2,200-3,500 metres.
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