A deciduous tree from 12 to 30 ft high; branchlets glabrous and often purplish. Leaves five-lobed, 21⁄2 to 4 in. wide, scarcely so long, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at the base; the lobes ovate, long-pointed, minutely, regularly and sharply toothed; glabrous except for down along the veins and in their axils. Flowers borne at the end of a slender-stalked corymb, 2 in. long. Fruit glabrous; keys 1 in. long; wings 2⁄5 in. wide, spreading nearly horizontally.
Native of Central China; discovered by Henry, and introduced by Wilson for Veitch in 1901 during his first expedition. It is allied to A. sinense, but differs in the smaller more finely and evenly toothed leaves, and in the corymbose inflorescence. In the last character, and in the shape of its leaves, it bears a strong resemblance to the typical form of A. palmatum. But, as seen in gardens, it is well distinguished by its stiffer, more glossy leaves. A closely related species – A. serrulatum Hayata – is found in the island of Formosa (Taiwan); it is common there in mountain forests to an altitude of 7,000 ft and makes a tree of up to 70 ft in height.