An evergreen shrub of rather thin, open habit, 5 or 6 ft high, the slender branches clothed at first with a pale, starry down. Leaves usually narrowly ovate or nearly oblong, 1 to 3 in. long, 1⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. wide, of firm texture, glabrous and dark glossy green above, prominently veined and white beneath, with a dense covering of starry down, margins entire, apex tapered but bluntish; base rounded to wedge-shaped; stalk 1⁄6 to 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers all fertile, produced during May densely packed in terminal, rounded trusses, 3 in. across, the branches of the inflorescence stellately downy. Each flower is 1⁄3 in. wide, white. Calyx glabrous, with shallow, rounded lobes. Fruits blue-black, oval, 1⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 8174.
Native of China; introduced in 1901 by Wilson. It has proved quite hardy since its introduction, and is a pretty, graceful shrub. According to Wilson, it grows on limestone. Award of Merit 1926.