A tree to about 40 ft high, or a shrub; branchlets glabrous; winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, up to [3/8] in. long, glabrous except for some down near the apex. Leaves leathery, roundish ovate, 5 to 8 in. long, 4 to 6 in. wide, abruptly acuminate at the apex, obliquely cordate to truncate at the base, finely serrated with aristate teeth, dark green and glabrous above, undersides glabrous or finely stellate downy beneath on the surface, with conspicuous brown axillary tufts; petiole stout, cylindric, about 2 in. long, glabrous. Cymes two- to five-flowered; bracts sessile, 3 to 4 in. long, adnate to the peduncle in the lower half, narrowly oblong, obtuse, sparsely downy. Petals concave, about [3/8] in. long, ovate-lanceolate. Staminodes five, petaloid. Fruits ovoid or broadest slightly above the middle, angled, densely tomentose, about [3/8] in. long, slightly less in width.
This species was described from specimens collected by Wilson in the Wa-shan and Wa-wu-shan of western Szechwan, and was later found by Chinese botanists on Mount Omei in the same province. It is allied to T. chinensis, but with larger leaves not felted beneath, longer, more glabrous bracts, and larger narrower fruits.
What is probably this species is in cultivation at Kew and other collections from seeds collected by Roy Lancaster on Mount Omei in 1980 (L.521). Scions were collected by Keith Rushforth on the same occasion and from these two grafted plants have been raised.