Branching shrub to 6 m; lvs ovate in outline, usually 3- lobed, coarsely serrate or dentate, glabrous; cal densely but finely stellate; pet 4-6 cm, white or variously pink, red, blue, or violet; fr prismatic, pointed, densely stellate-tomentose; seeds long-hairy on the margins; 2n=80-92. Native of e. Asia, persistent after cult. and occasionally escaped. July-Sept.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.