A genus of nearly 30 species of shrubs in the witch hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to eastern Asia with the majority of species endemic in China but with some also in Japan, Korea, and the Himalaya. This genus is also known from the extinct species Corylopsis reedae described from Eocene leaf fossils found in Washington State, USA.
They grow to 2-6 m tall, and often with a crown wider than tall. The leaves are ovate with an acute apex and a serrated margin, 4-20 cm long and 3-15 cm broad. The flowers are produced in late winter in pendulous racemes 3-9 cm long with 5-30 flowers; each flower has five pale yellow petals, 4-9 mm long. The fruit is a dry capsule 10-12 mm long, containing two glossy black seeds.
