Erect shrubs, deciduous; stems slender. Leaves simple, alternate,caducous, stipulate. Flowers large, solitary, terminal on leafy branches, bisexual, 5-merous, appearing with the leaves. Hypanthium broadly cup-shaped. Epicalyx absent. Sepals 5, entire. Petals large, yellow to orange 5 (to white & many in cultivated ‘Pleniflora’ ). Stamens numerous. Styles 5, filiform, stigma punctiform. Ovary superior, ovules two, 1 abortive. Carpels 5-10. Fruit an achenetum with 4-5 drupaceous achenes, endocarp woody, mesocarp thin and fleshy. Seeds with thin testa.

A genus of one species, native to China and Japan, cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens, sometimes naturalised. Cultivated in Pakistan.