A deciduous tree 30 to 50 ft high, with very stout, rigid, erect branches. Leaves pinnate, 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 ft long, with about nine or eleven leaflets, which are each 31⁄2 to 7 in. long, about half as much wide, of ovate or oblong outline, occasionally rather heart-shaped at the base, glabrous except on the midrib beneath, margins entire or sparsely toothed. Panicles as much as 18 in. long, and 12 in. wide at the base, more open and less densely furnished with flowers than either of the simple-leaved species before mentioned; flowers creamy white, 1⁄4 in. across. Fruits rich violet, globose, 5⁄8 in. wide.
Native of W. China at elevations of 5,000 to 7,500 ft, whence it was introduced by Wilson in 1901. It is in cultivation in several places including Kew, and is noteworthy for its fine pinnate foliage with red petioles, and curiously stout, rigid branchlets. It is evidently a perfectly hardy tree and has flowered in several places and borne fruit in recent years. There is an example at Kew near the Ferneries measuring 30 × 21⁄4 ft (1967). Growing in a damper and more shaded position, this species has attained at Nymans in Sussex the size of 48 × 31⁄2 ft (1968); this fine tree is almost as tall as any that Wilson saw growing wild in China.