Shrubs, evergreen, to 2 m tall. Bark light brown. Branchlets of current year purplish brown, yellow-brown stellate-pubescent, or mixed with forklike or simple hairs, terete; branchlets of previous year gray-brownish, terete, glabrous, with sparse, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds ovoid-lanceolate, with 2 pairs of separate scales; scales ovate-lanceolate, stellate-pubescent. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole green, robust, 8-15(-25) mm, yellow-brown stellate-pubescent, or mixed with forklike or simple hairs; leaf blade green when young, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 9-19(-27) × 1-4 cm, papery, abaxially yellow-brown stellate-pubescent, or mixed with forklike or simple hairs, adaxially shiny, without glands, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 7-12-jugate, lowest pair sometimes elongating to upper part of blade, thus appearing nearly triplinerved, pinnate, slightly arched, rarely branched, ending in teeth or anastomosing near margin, raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, slightly raised abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, not lobed, base rounded or obtuse, without glands, margin remotely serrate above 1/3 from base, apex long acuminate. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, terminal, ca. 4 cm in diam., to 5 cm at fruiting stage; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence with 5 rays, dense, yellow-brown stellate-pubescent, or mixed with forklike or simple hairs, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles 1.5-4 cm, slender; bracts and bracteoles caducous, green, linear-lanceolate, membranous, sparsely ciliate. Flowers on rays of 3rd and 4th orders, not fragrant, sessile or shortly pedicellate. Calyx green; tube tubular, ca. 1 mm, yellow-brown stellate-pubescent, or mixed with forklike or simple hairs; lobes broadly ovate or broadly triangular-ovate, ca. 1/2 as long as tube, glabrous, apex obtuse, slightly ciliolate. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 4 mm in diam., glabrous; tube ca. 1 mm; lobes spreading, orbicular-ovate, slightly exceeding tube, ca. 1.8 mm wide, apex obtuse, margin entire. Stamens slightly exceeding corolla, inserted at base of corolla; filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers yellow-whitish, broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Styles exceeding calyx lobes; stigmas capitate, 3-lobed. Fruit maturing red, subglobose, 7-8 mm in diam., base rounded, apex rounded, glabrous; pyrenes compressed, often slightly rectangular, 5-6 × 5-6 mm, raised and without groove on dorsal side, impressed on ventral side, with 2 shallow grooves, apex rounded. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Oct.
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