Korea Flora: Deciduous shrub. Height 1m. Branchlets drooping at tips, purplish, with stepped pith, and square-shaped. Leaves opposite, arranged in two rows, ovate or elliptic-ovate, apex acute or acuminate, base rounded or truncate, size 3-8cm × 0.5-3cm, margins smooth. Petiole 2-5mm long. Flowers bisexual, blooming before leaves, in racemes of 5-7 purple flowers, inflorescence (4)6-10mm long, pedicel 1.5mm long. Calyx bell-shaped square, persistent, 3-3.5mm long. Petals 4, spoon-shaped or ovate-circular, 6mm long. Overall flower width 10mm, smaller than Forsythia (25mm). Flower color varies: white, pale yellow, or slightly red, showing polymorphism. Stamens 2, attached to lower part of corolla tube, with two types (long and short, distyly) allowing cross-pollination for seed set. Fruit and seed: samara round-elliptical, 25-35 × 25-30mm, tip shriveled and broadly cuneate, containing 2 seeds.

Flowering mid-March to early April.

Fruiting September.

Distribution: Endemic to Korean Peninsula. Chungcheongbukdo, Jeollabukdo.

Taxonomic note: A. distichum f. eburneum T.B. Lee, A. distichum f. rotundicarpum T.B. Lee, and A. distichum f. viridicalycinum T.B. Lee are all invalidly published names.