A deciduous shrub, 3 to 8 ft high; young shoots nearly glabrous. Leaves narrowly oval, or obovate, 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide, the base wedge-shaped, the apex mostly pointed, minutely toothed, dark green above, paler beneath, almost or quite glabrous on both sides; stalk 1⁄6 in. or less long. Flowers white, pendulous, 3⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. across, produced in June and July one to four near and at the end of short leafy twigs, each flower on a slender stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Petals 1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in. wide, pointed; calyx triangular-lobed; stamens erect, 1⁄2 in. long. Fruit roundish oval, 1⁄4 in. wide, covered with fine grey down, and supported at the base by the persistent five-lobed calyx.
Native of the south-eastern United States; introduced in 1765. This shrub has long been cultivated at Kew, but grows slowly, really needing a warmer climate. It was killed to the ground by the frosts of February 1895, but sprang up again later. It is better adapted for our south-west counties, where it is a pretty shrub; yet neither as hardy nor as beautiful as S. japonica, to which in its pendulous blossoms it bears some resemblance but is easily distinguished by its narrower petals.