A deciduous shrubby cherry up to 6 or 8 ft high; young shoots soon glabrous. Leaves purplish when young, narrowly oval to obovate, sharply and finely toothed, long-pointed, rounded to tapered at the base, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, dull green above, greyish beneath, and slightly hairy on both surfaces especially when young; stalk 1⁄4 in. long. Flowers white or pale pink, about 1 in. wide, produced either singly or up to four in a cluster; flower-stalk 1⁄2 in. long. Petals obovate, mostly notched; calyx-tube glabrous, tubular, tapered to the base; the lobes ovate-triangular, not toothed. Fruits roundish, 1⁄2 in. long, black.
Native of W. Hupeh, China; introduced by Wilson in 1907. This shrubby cherry is very rare in cultivation. It produces its flowers during March or April in great profusion in advance of the leaves and is then a very pretty shrub.