A deciduous shrub 5 to 10 ft high, with glabrous, bifurcating branches. Leaves obovate, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. long, half to two-thirds as wide, finely round-toothed, glabrous, or with a few hairs at the base of the midrib beneath. Flowers in a nodding raceme of ten or twelve blossoms, produced in May, each on a downy stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Corolla bell-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long and broad, white, the margin cut up into numerous slender-pointed, unequal teeth; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, fringed with short hairs; seed-vessel 1⁄6 to 1⁄4 in. long.
Native of Japan. It is easily distinguished by the almost fringed mouth of the corolla.
var. rubens (Maxim.) Mak. – This is similar to the type, except that its leaves are usually shorter and broader (roundish obovate), often from 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, and the flowers of a rich deep red. Very distinct and beautiful. Such red-flowered forms are found in the wild state but perhaps not invariably with this shape of leaf.