Korea Flora: Deciduous small tree or shrub. Height 4m. Winter buds: Branch tips with 2 developed terminal buds, circular with pointed ends, 3-5mm long, 8-12 bud scales. Terminal buds larger than lateral buds. Leaf scars semi-circular or crescent-shaped. Leaves opposite, broadly ovate or ovate, abruptly acuminate apex, cuneate, rounded or cordate base, size 5-9(12)cm × 2.5-5cm, both surfaces hairless, margins smooth. Petiole 10-20mm long. Flowers in panicles at branch tips of previous year's growth, 10-25cm long, 10-15cm in diameter, with or without hair. Flowers 5-6mm in diameter, white. Calyx tube 1.7mm long, corolla tube 2mm long, corolla lobes 3mm long and curved inward. 2 stamens, 1 pistil, ovary round, 2-celled, hairless. Capsule oblong, 20-25mm long, blunt.

Flowering Late May to early July.

Fruiting September-October.

Distribution: Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia in China; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu in Japan; mainly in Pyongannamdo, Pyonganbukdo, Hamgyongnamdo, Hamgyongbukdo, Gangwondo in Korea. Also in Jirisan (Jeollanamdo) and Gyeongsangbukdo.

Ecological characteristics: Grows well in moist, fertile soils like valleys, but also tolerates dry ridges with intermediate light conditions.

Taxonomic notes: The English version of the Chinese flora treats Korean populations as S. reticulata subsp. amurensis (Rupr.) P. S. Green et M. C. Chang, Japanese populations as subsp. reticulata, and inland Chinese populations as subsp. pekinensis (Rupr.) P. S. Green et M. C. Chang. Li et al. (2001b) treat inland Chinese populations as S. pekinensis Rupr., and the other two as varieties of S. reticulata. Due to overlapping characteristics, all are treated here as synonyms under S. reticulata. S. reticulata var. mandshurica f. koreana (Nakai) T.B. Lee and S. reticulata var. mandshurica f. longifolia (Nakai) T.B. Lee are invalidly published names.

Japan Flora: Deciduous small tree with glabrous, gray-brown branches; leaves ovate to broadly so, or ovate-orbicular, 6-8 (-12) cm. long, 3.5-6(-9) cm. wide, abruptly acuminate or acute, rounded to shallowly cordate or sometimes abruptly acute at base, entire, ckep green and gla­brous above, pale green and short, white-pubescent beneath especially on the midrib, the veinlets reticulate beneath; pani­cles large and rather broad, 15-25 cm. long, 10-15 cm. wide, densely many-flowered, glabrous or puberulent; flowers white, fragrant, about 5 mm. across, short-pedicellate; calyx-teeth de­pressed; corolla subinfundibuliform, the lobes ovate, about 25 mm. long, longer than the tube; filaments slighdy longer than the corolla-lobes, the anthers ellipsoidal, about 15 mm. long; capsules narrowly oblong, 15-20 mm. long, smooth to loosely lenticellate; seeds flat, wing-margined. June-July. Moun­tains.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu.