A shrub 3 to 5 ft high, bushy, with slightly angular stems; young twigs at first more or less downy, becoming glabrous later. Leaves narrowly to broadly obovate, 1⁄2 to 11⁄3 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide; toothed only at the apex, slightly downy or glabrous beneath, with three distinct veins running lengthwise. Flowers white, small, produced during May in small hemispherical umbels at the end of short, leafy twigs.
Native of S.E. Europe, north to E. Czechoslovakia, east to central Russia, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and N. Iran; long in cultivation. It is probably most closely allied to S. hypericifolia which too has leaves three-veined from the base, but differs from S. crenata in its almost sessile inflorescence.