A deciduous tree, 20 ft or more high, young shoots covered at first with tufted down. Leaves obovate or unequally ovate, 3 to 51⁄2 in. long, 2 to 31⁄2 in. wide, usually more gradually tapered at the base than at the apex; finely and rather distantly toothed, prominently veined, glabrous and pale green above, sparsely furnished beneath with tufted (stellate) down; stalk 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 in. long. Flowers pure white, produced in June on terminal downy racemes or few-branched panicles, 4 to 6 in. long, each flower on a stalk 1⁄6 in. long. Corolla 3⁄4 in. long, about 1 in. wide, the five lobes narrowly oval, downy outside, joined at the base into a tube 1⁄4 in. long. Calyx bell-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long, slender-toothed, covered with reddish brown tufted down. Bot. Mag., t. 8339.
Native of Central and Western China; introduced by Wilson in 1900. It is of remarkable beauty in flower, and striking too in size of leaf, but not an easy species to suit. Although hardy, it needs a deep moist soil and a sheltered position, well clear of the root-run of forest trees. Perhaps the finest specimen in the country, or at least the best displayed, grows in one of the walled enclosures at Trengwainton in Cornwall. Measured examples are: East Bergholt Place, Suffolk, 28 × 31⁄4 ft (1972); Hollycombe, nr Liphook, Hants, 46 × 21⁄4 ft (1974); Caerhays, Cornwall, 40 × 21⁄4 ft (1971).
S. hemsleyana bears a certain resemblance to S. obassia, but the leaves of that species are rounder, more coarsely toothed, and much more downy beneath, and the bud is enclosed by the base of the leaf-stalk.
