A quite glabrous, evergreen shrub up to 12 or 15 ft high, of rounded, bushy shape. Leaves oval-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 2 to 41⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 13⁄4 in. wide, edged with very shallow, spine-tipped teeth. Flowers greenish yellow, in dense, rounded, three or four times divided, terminal clusters 2 or 3 in. across. Fruit 5⁄8 in. long, somewhat square-sided and four-lobed, 1⁄2 in. wide at the flat top, tapering thence to the stalk. The fruits are yellow, but their full beauty is only attained when they ripen and split and expose the seeds which become orange- scarlet in December; the tapering stalk is 1 in. or more long. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 64.
Native of W. China, discovered by Henry and introduced by Wilson in 1908, It flowered with P. D. Williams at Lanarth in 1929 and in several gardens since. It is quite hardy at Kew and a bush there is 10 ft. high and wide and very attractive in early winter. At Wisley it is 12 ft high and fruits regularly.