Shrubs to 4 m or so tall but generally much less. Leaves ovate to obovate, losing waxiness on the lower surface, hairy or with hairs on veins only; vein pairs 6-11. Flower clusters 2-9 cm long, spaced along the stalk; early spring. Flowers 5-35, yellow. Stamens with anthers yellow or purple. Fruit capsule hairy.

C China

C. willmottiae Rehder & Wils. which has been quite widely cultivated, though not so much in Australia, is now included with C. sinensis. Plants offered in the trade as C. glabrescens Franch & Sav. (which has ovate sepals, flowers widely spaced on a hairless stalk and relatively small leaves to 8 cm long) may at least sometimes be C. spicata Siebold & Zucc.

C. sinensis var. calvescens Franch. & Sav. f. veitchiana (Bean) B.D. Morley & J.M.Chao is a form also well known to horticulture and once recognised as a species; it has red protruding stamens (distinguished from C. spicata by the leaves being hairless below).

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Hamamelidaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.