An evergreen shrub 10 to 12 ft high, of sparse habit; the branches gracefully pendulous; young shoots hairy, becoming glabrous the second year, and of a dark purplish brown. Leaves 2 to 41⁄2 in. long, about one-third as wide, narrowly oval or obovate, finely pointed, dark green, and somewhat rough to the touch above; covered beneath when young with a greyish wool which mostly falls away by the second season, that which remains becoming brown, and confined to the midrib and veins, the under-surface still remaining brownish white; veins in nine to twelve pairs; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, hairy. Flowers white, produced about the middle of June in corymbs 2 to 21⁄2 in. across, terminating leafy twigs less than 1 in. long, that spring from the axils of the still persisting leaves of the previous year; stamens twenty, with purple anthers; calyx and flower-stalks hairy. Fruit brownish crimson, egg-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long with two or three nutlets.
Native of Central China; introduced by Wilson in 1901. A handsome and distinct evergreen, and probably the largest-leaved of cotoneasters with persistent leaves. It is allied to C. salicifolius and has been confused with it. In that species, however, the leaves are shorter and relatively narrower than in C. henryanus, and glabrous above even when young.