An evergreen shrub 4 to 8 ft high, with an often bi-forked branching; young shoots covered with pale, forward-pointing bristles, becoming glabrous and purplish brown the second season. Leaves leathery, mostly oblanceolate or lanceolate, tapered to both ends, pointed, 2 to 4 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, glossy and quite glabrous on both surfaces; scarcely stalked. Flowers white, borne during July in stalked heads of six or more at, or near, the apex of the shoots; perianth tubular, 3⁄4 in. long, 5⁄8 in. wide across the four narrowly ovate-oblong lobes, not downy; flower-stalks bristly. Fruit at first scarlet, then dark red.
Native of China; introduced by Wilson in 1907-8 from Hupeh and Szechwan. It is related closely to D. odora but is inferior to that species as regards its blossom, which has no fragrance (or only an intermittent one); the fruit, however, is handsome.