Vasilis Teodoridis:
Saxifragaceae | Itea
12. Itea chinensis Hooker & Arnott; Bot. Beechey Voy. 189. 1833.
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Shrubs or small trees; 4-10 m tall; rarely much taller. Young branchlets yellow-green; glabrous; old branchlets brown; striate. Petiole 1-2 cm; glabrous; sulcate adaxially; leaf blade abaxially pale green; adaxially deep green; obovate or ovate-elliptic; 5-12(-15) x 3-6 cm; thinly leathery; both surfaces glabrous; midvein distinctly raised abaxially; impressed adaxially; secondary veins in 4 or 5 pairs; arcuate curved upward; connected near margin; base cuneate; margin obscurely crenate-serrulate distally; repand; or subentire; apex acute. Racemes axillary; solitary or rarely 2- or 3-fascicled; erect; usually shorter than leaves; 3-6(-9) cm; glabrous; rachis puberulous; bracts linear-subulate; 1-2 mm. Flowers numerous; 2- or 3-clustered; rarely solitary; pedicel slender; ca. 2 mm; puberulous. Calyx shallowly cupular; sparsely pubescent; lobes triangular-lanceolate; ca. 1.5 mm; puberulous. Petals erect at anthesis; white; lanceolate; 2.5-3 mm; glabrous; apex emarginate. Stamens subequaling or slightly longer than petals; filaments puberulous. Ovary superior; densely villous. Stigma capitate. Capsule striate; oblong-lanceolate; 6-9 mm; puberulous. Fl. Mar-May; fr. May-Dec. 2n = 22.
Sparse forests; mountain slopes; valleys; streamsides; roadsides; 100-2400 m. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hunan; SE Xizang; NW Yunnan [Bhutan; India; Laos; N Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam].
This is a widespread species variable in the shape; size; and marginal dentation of the leaf blades.