A deciduous shrub up to 8 or 9 ft high; lateral branchlets occasionally spine-tipped or reduced to short spurs with the leaves crowded at the end; young shoots glabrous. Leaves glossy pale green on both sides, obovate, always tapered at the base, broadly pointed or rounded at the apex, finely toothed except sometimes near the base, 1 to 3 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide; with three to five pairs of veins converging towards the apex; stalk 1⁄3 to 3⁄4 in. long, more or less downy. Flowers greenish brown, produced in May in dense hemispherical clusters at the end of the short, spur-like branches; stalks glabrous, 1⁄3 in. long; calyx-lobes four, triangular; stamens four. Fruits globose, 1⁄4 in. across.
Native of Japan; introduced in 1888. It flowers with great freedom, and the blossoms have a faint pleasant fragrance. It is distinct in its bright green, uniformly obovate leaves produced on spurs.