Shrubs, evergreen, to 10 m tall. Bark gray-brownish. Branchlets of current year purple-brownish, with raised lenticels, subglabrous; branchlets of previous year gray-whitish, terete, glabrous, with numerous, large, rounded lenticels. Winter buds ovoid, with 1 pair of separate scales; scales reddish brown, glabrous, apex acute. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole purplish, robust, 0.8-2.5(-3) cm, glabrous; leaf blade purplish when young, elliptic-obovate to elliptic, 6-14 × 4-7 cm, thickly leathery, lustrous and conspicuously rugose, abaxially yellowish stellate-pubescent only in axils of veins, adaxially glabrous, midvein raised abaxially, triplinerved, veins pinnate, arched, rarely branched, anastomosing near margin, raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, conspicuous abaxially, deeply impressed and conspicuously rugose adaxially, not lobed, base broadly cuneate to subrounded, without glands, margin entire or sometimes with few irregular teeth above middle part, apex shortly acuminate. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, terminal, 4-6 cm in diam.; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with 5 or 6 rays, 1-3 cm, dense, glabrous, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles (1-)1.5-3(-3.5) cm; bracts caducous, leaflike, green, linear to linear-lanceolate, glabrous; bracteoles scalelike. Flowers on rays of 2nd order, not fragrant, with very short pedicels. Calyx greenish; tube campanulate, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; lobes lanceolate, very small, ca. 1/2 as long as tube, glabrous, apex acute. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 5 mm in diam., glabrous; tube ca. 1 mm; lobes spreading, orbicular, ca. 2 mm in diam., 2-4 × as long as tube, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens ca. 1/2 as long as corolla, inserted near base of corolla tube; filaments ca. 2 mm; anthers red-blackish, subglobose, less than 1 mm. Styles nearly as long as calyx lobes; stigmas subsessile. Fruit not turning red, maturing blue-blackish, ovoid or ellipsoid-oblong, ca. 6 × 4 mm, base rounded, apex acute, glabrous; pyrenes globose, 4-5 mm in diam., with 1 small and shallow ventral groove, apex rounded. Fl. Jun, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 18*.
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