A spreading, suckering shrub 2 to 4 ft high; young wood glabrous. Leaves oval or ovate-oblong, taper-pointed, usually heart-shaped at the base on strong shoots, tapering on weak shoots, 2 to 5 in. long, 1 to 21⁄2 in. wide, evenly toothed, quite glabrous on both surfaces, hairy on the margin when quite young; stalk 1⁄4 in, or less long. Cymes few-flowered, axillary and terminal, produced in June and July on the current season’s shoots, the terminal ones three- or five-flowered; axillary flowers often solitary. Corolla yellow, becoming deeper with age, funnel-shaped, the tube 1⁄2 in. long, wider across the five narrow lobes. Calyx glabrous, with five erect, awl-shaped lobes. Style and stamens hairy below. Bot. Mag. t. 1796.
Native of eastern N. America, from Newfoundland to the S. United States. First brought to Europe by Dr Dierville, a French surgeon, after whom the genus is named; cultivated by Miller in 1739. It is the least ornamental of cultivated diervillas, and rarely seen outside botanic gardens.