Styrax hemsleyanus

The Hemsley snowbell tree in the styrax or Styracaceae family is native to central China (provinces of Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi and Sichuan), growing up to about 12 m tall.

• Branchlets are hairy or glabrous.
• Leaves are papery 8–12 cm long and 4–6 cm across, oblong to ovate-oblong, lower surface sparsely grey-brown stellate pubescent on veins, seven to ten secondary veins on each side of the mid-rib, margin serrate to close to entire, apex slightly curved and acute; petiole is 0.7–1.5 cm long.
• Flowers are in terminal racemes, 8–10-flowered, 9–15 cm long; stems 0.2–0.4 cm long; flowers are whitish spheres 1.8–2.7 cm long, blossoming into many white flowers hanging below the foliage; they are bell-shaped, 5-lobed with yellow stamens.
• When the flower petals drop off, the fruit develops into drooping "spheres" similar in appearance to the flower spheres in the spring, but maturing into brown seed pods up to 1.5 cm in diameter.