Daphne genkwa Siebold & Zucc. is an evergreen shrub and one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Daphne genkwa is a popular garden plant that can usually be easily identified by the precocious inflorescences of distinctively colored flowers (the "lilac daphne"), produced on very reduced lateral shoots such that they superficially appear to be axillary. However, it seems that there is sometimes a second flush of flowers produced later in the season, after the leaves, when the inflorescences are often pedunculate and sometimes axillary as well as clearly terminal, sometimes on long shoots. The leaf arrangement is very variable. The species is valued horticulturally, while the dried flower buds are used medicinally.

Forests, shrubby slopes; 300-1000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Korea].