A deciduous tree or shrub up to 20 or 25 ft high; young shoots furnished with pale hairs; spines very stout, 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Leaves ovate in main outline, but shallowly lobed and finely toothed, broadly wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, pointed or blunt at the apex; 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. wide; shining dark green above, loosely hairy in the vein-axils and on the veins beneath; stalk 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. long. On vigorous barren shoots the leaves are much more deeply lobed, approaching those of C. oxyacantha in this respect. Flowers white, produced in mid-June, crowded on corymbs 21⁄2 in. wide, each flower about 1⁄2 in. wide; flower-stalks shaggy. Fruit red, shining, 2⁄5 in. long, 1⁄4 in. wide.
Native of W. Hupeh, China; introduced by Wilson in 1907. It is an interesting species as representing in Asia the important group of American thorns to which C. tomentosa and C. macracantha belong. Hardy at Kew.