Small tree to c. 6 m high, sometimes a low spreading shrub, densely hairy or bristly tomentose on young shoots and young infl.; hairs usually simple or with 2-3 branches, rarely obviously stellate. Petioles 4-14 cm long. Stipules 5-12 mm long, subulate, brown, scarious. Lamina 10-18-(28) × 7-14-(23) cm, broad-ovate, densely hairy beneath, less hairy above, serrate-dentate, usually shallowly 5-7-lobed, sometimes simple on flowering shoots; base deeply cordate; apex acuminate. Peduncles > petioles. Cymes with slender pedicels to 4 cm long, densely clothed in patent white hairs. Sepals 5-12 mm long (longer in cultivated plants), oblong-ovate, caducous, densely clothed in patent white hairs. Petals 10-15 mm long, white with yellow base; the outer (true petals) obovate; the inner (petaloid stamens) often with purple streaks, narrow, numerous. Stamens mostly petaloid, sometimes a few moniliform; base of filaments yellow, upper parts purple. Capsule globose, with copious bristles, not developing properly.