A deciduous shrub of bushy, erect habit, generally 4 to 6 ft high in cultivation but occasionally twice as high; young shoots usually finely downy. Leaves narrowly oval or inclined to obovate, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide; pointed at both ends, shallowly round-toothed, of firm texture, downy on the midrib beneath; stalk 1⁄8 in. or less long. Flowers produced during June in one-sided racemes 1 to 4 in. long, sometimes branched, usually terminating short twigs of the previous year. Corolla white, cylindrical, 1⁄3 in. long; sepals triangular-ovate, finely hairy on the margin; flower-stalk very short, glabrous, with two bracteoles close beneath the calyx. Each anther is terminated by four awns, two to each cell.
Native of the eastern United States from Massachusetts southwards; introduced in 1736. This is a perfectly hardy, free-growing shrub which flowers abundantly, and is one of the prettiest of June-flowering shrubs. It requires an occasional thinning out of the older wood. Propagated by cuttings of nearly ripened young shoots. Allied to L. recurva (q.v.).