A deciduous shrub of erect habit up to 10 ft high; winter-buds as in L. nigra; young shoots glabrous or slightly bristly. Leaves oval, tapered or rounded at the base, pointed, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long on flowering shoots (up to 41⁄2 in. long on vigorous barren shoots) about half as wide, glabrous, dark green above, furnished more or less with pale down beneath. Flowers deep purplish rose, produced in pairs, each pair on a slender stalk up to 1 in. long. Corolla scarcely 1⁄2 in. long, two-lipped, short-tubed, glabrous outside, hairy within; stamens hairy at the base, style hairy the whole length. Fruits ovoid, red, united.
Native of Amurland (Manchuria) and Korea; cultivated in this country since about 1878. The flowers are rather brightly coloured, but the species has no outstanding merit with us, although favourably mentioned in more sunny climates.
var. sachalinensis Fr. Schmidt L. sachalinensis (Fr. Schmidt) Nakai – Leaves ovate, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, usually glabrous beneath. Flowers deep red. N. Japan, Sakhalin, Korea, and the Ussuri region.