Japan Flora: Much-branched deciduous shrub with slender grayish pilosulous branches while young; leaves membranous, oblong-lanceolate, narrowly oblong, or broadly oblanceolate, 2-5 (-7) cm. long, 7-20(-25) mm. wide, obtuse or sometimes subacute at both ends, the petioles 1-2 mm. long; panicles racemose, 2-3 cm. long, densely flowered, densely pilosulous; calyx usually pilosulous; corolla 7~9 mm. long, the tube 1.5-2.5 times as long as the lobes; filaments very short, the anthers broadly lanceolate, 2-25 mm. long, about half as long as the corolla-lobes; styles 3-4(-4.5) mm. long; fruit nearly globose, purple-black, 5-6 mm. in diameter. June. Thickets and thin woods in lowlands and hills.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shi­koku, Kyushu; very common and variable. Ryukyus and Korea.

var. leiocalyx (Nakai) H.Hara. Calyx glabrous. Occurs with the typical phase.

var. regelianum (Koehne) Rehder Plant prominently pilose. Occurs with the typical phase.

var. velutinum (Blume) H.Hara. Leaves prominently pilosulous beneath.  Occurs with the typical phase.