A deciduous tree up to 45 ft high, often a large shrub; young shoots rusty-downy at first, becoming almost or quite glabrous by the end of the season. Leaves ovate to narrowly oval, pointed (sometimes slenderly), tapered to rounded at the base, more or less coarsely toothed towards the apex or toothless; 11⁄2 to 4 in. long; downy at first but almost or quite glabrous by autumn; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄3 in. long. Fruit solitary, in pairs or in threes, globose or slightly tapered towards the top, orange-coloured, 1⁄4 in. long. on a stalk about twice the length.
Native of Central China; in cultivation at Kew since 1902. It resembles C. bungeana in its leaves being toothed above the middle only and in the short leafstalks, but that species has black or purplish-black fruits. The tree at Kew, planted in 1902, now measures 35 × 31⁄2 ft (1967).