Itea riparia Collett & Hemsl.

Shrubs 1-6 m tall. Branchlets yellow-green, striate, glabrous. Leaves usually crowded at apex of branchlets, subclustered; petiole 5-8 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially gray-green, adaxially green, elliptic to lanceolate or obovate-elliptic, 5-10 × 1.5-3 cm, thinly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins in 4 or 5 pairs, arcuate, confluent near margin, slightly raised abaxially, obscure adaxially, base cuneate, margin curved cartilaginous glandular dentate, apex acute or acuminate. Racemes terminal, pendulous, usually longer than leaves, 10-18 cm; rachis puberulous; bracts linear-lanceolate, ca. 3-5 mm. Flowers numerous, rather crowded, often 3-clustered; pedicel 3-5 mm, puberulous. Calyx shallowly cupular; lobes erect at anthesis, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 4 mm. Stamens ca. 3 mm; filaments glabrous; anthers dorsifixed, ovoid. Ovary semi-inferior, glabrous. Style simple. Capsule ovoid-conical, ca. 5 mm, glabrous. Fl. and fr. May-Feb. 2n = 22.

S Yunnan [Myanmar, Thailand].

Wet places on stream banks; 400-900 m.

Itea thorelii Gagnepain.