Hydrangea tomentella (Hand.-Mazz.) Y. De Smet & Granados

Shrubs ca. 16 m tall. Branchlets, leaves, and inflorescences densely brownish to rusty brown 3-6-rayed stellate hairy. Petiole 1.2-1.5 cm; leaf blade oblong to obovate-oblong, 5-10(-18) × 2.5-5(-8) cm, leathery, abaxially densely rusty brown stellate tomentose or pubescent, adaxially sparsely stellate hairy when young and gray-greenish when dry, secondary veins 8-13 on both sides of midvein, base rounded, shallowly cordate, or rarely broadly cuneate, margin entire and slightly revolute, irregularly undulate distally from middle, or sparsely serrate, apex acute. Inflorescences 10-25 × 10-25 cm; bracts linear to subulate, 5-10 × 1-2 mm; pedicels ca. 2 mm. Calyx tube ca. 2 mm; lobes deltoid, stellate hairy. Petals white, ovate, ca. 2 mm, falling early. Stamens 8-10; filaments 5-6 mm. Style ca. 1.5 mm; stigma conical, 4-6-lobed. Capsule dark brown, turbinate, ca. 4 mm in diam., 5-10-ribbed, apex truncate, with persistent style. Seeds ca. 2 mm. Fl. Mar-Aug, fr. Sep-Dec.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi.

* Forests in valleys; 300-700 m.