Shrubs, semievergreen, to 5 m tall. Bark gray-brownish or gray-whitish. Branchlets of current year yellow-whitish or brownish stellate-tomentose; branchlets of previous year brownish, terete, glabrous, with dispersed, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds naked, yellow-whitish or brownish stellate-tomentose. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole green, robust, 1-2 cm, gray-whitish or yellow-whitish stellate-tomentose; leaf blade greenish white when young, dark green when mature, lanceolate-oblong or narrowly oblong, 5-10(-15) × 1.5-4.5 cm, papery to thickly leathery, abaxially gray-whitish or yellow-whitish stellate-pubescent (particularly on young leaves), on old leaves gray-brownish, adaxially glabrous, or with sparse short hairs on midvein and lateral veins when young, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 7-10-jugate, pinnate, arched, branched, anastomosing near margin, raised abaxially, slightly (more conspicuously on young leaves) raised adaxially, veinlets transverse, conspicuous abaxially, slightly impressed or inconspicuous adaxially, not lobed, base rounded or slightly cordate, without glands, margin entire or rarely inconspicuously dentate, apex slightly acute or obtuse. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, terminal, 4-6(-8) cm in diam.; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with 5-7 rays, subequal in length, dense, gray-whitish or yellow-whitish stellate-tomentose, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncle 1-2.5 cm; bracts caducous, leaflike, green, linear-lanceolate, stellate-pubescent; bracteoles scalelike. Flowers usually on rays of 2nd order, not fragrant, shortly pedicellate. Calyx greenish; tube oblong-ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, ± stellate-hairy; lobes broadly ovate, very small, 0.5-1 mm, sparsely stellate-pubescent, apex obtuse. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 7 mm in diam., outside sparsely stellate-hairy; tube ca. 3 mm; lobes spreading, orbicular-ovate or suborbicular, ca. 2 mm, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens slightly exceeding corolla lobes, inserted near base of corolla tube; filaments ca. 5 mm; anthers yellow, broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Styles slightly exceeding or subequaling calyx lobes; stigmas capitate. Fruit initially turning red, maturing black, oblong-ovoid, base rounded, apex rounded, sparsely stellate-pubescent; pyrenes very compressed, oblong, 8-9 × 4-5 mm, with 2 dorsal grooves and 3 ventral grooves, apex rounded. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul.
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