Deciduous shrub to 3 m or more tall. Branchlets with straight hairs. Leaves mostly 2-5 cm long, narrowly elliptic to oblong, lower surface hairless or with a few straight hairs, especially on the midrib. Leaf stalk 1-2 mm long. Flower clusters relatively few-flowered, mostly to about 4 cm long. Flowers with calyx and flower stalks hairy, the tube 4-5 mm long and lobes slightly shorter; spring. Stamens hardly protruding. Fruit blue-black, about 5 mm long. [L. ibota hort.]

Japan, Korea

var. regelianum Rehd. is a relatively small, compact, horizontally branching shrub with hairier leaves.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Oleaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.