Korea Flora: Deciduous shrub. Winter buds and young shoots: Winter buds narrowly ovoid, 7-14mm long, with pointed tips, green and glabrous. Young branches with fine hairs, two-year-old branches grayish-brown with distinct lenticels. Leaves alternate, elliptical, apex acuminate, base cuneate, 3-6cm long. Upper surface green with fine hairs on veins, lower surface grayish-green with hairs on veins. Margin serrate with sharp, inward-curving teeth. Petiole 5-10mm long, hairy. Flowers in terminal panicles. Sepals ovate with soft hairs, petals deeply divided and green. 5 stamens, style glabrous. Fruit and seed ovoid-globose, 5-6mm in diameter, black.

Flowering: May

Fruiting:  September

Distribution: Western tip of Honshu (Yamaguchi Prefecture), northern Kyushu in Japan; North and South Jeolla Provinces, South Gyeongsang Province in Korea

Taxonomic notes: Deciduous Symplocos species are highly variable, leading to taxonomic disagreements. In recent Chinese English editions, Wu and Nooteboom (1996) used the name S. paniculata, treating Korean S. sawafutagi, S. tanakae, and S. coreana as synonyms. However, Nagamasu (1993) in Japan recognized these taxa as separate species and restricted S. paniculata to Japan as an endemic species. Nagamasu's species treatment is generally considered valid.