A deciduous shrub of erect habit, with glabrous, purplish young shoots. Leaves lanceolate, rounded or broadly tapered at the base, drawn out at the apex to a long slender point, 2 to 41⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, downy along the midrib above, with usually a conspicuous strip of down towards the base of the midrib beneath; stalk about 1⁄8 in. long. Flowers twin, produced in May from the leaf-axils on stalks 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. long, white tinged with pink; corolla 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. long, the tube stout, much bellied at the base, downy outside; stamens and style more or less downy. Fruits white or purplish, rather translucent.
Native of Hupeh and Yunnan, China; discovered by Henry, introduced by Wilson in 1901. Henry states that he found it 10 ft high. Although very different in mode of growth, it is botanically akin to L. pileata, both having a ‘remarkable downward cap-like production of the calyx covering the united bracteoles’ (Hemsley).