[1] Sorbus oligodonta is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 5–15 m tall, with a rounded crown and dark grey bark.

The leaves are green to glaucous blue-green above, paler beneath, 10–26 cm long, pinnate with 9-17 oval leaflets 3–5.5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, broadest near the middle or apex (hence the English name 'kite-leaf'), rounded at the end with a short acuminate apex, and very finely serrated margins; the basal leaflets are smaller than the apical leaflets.

The fruit is a pome 7–8 mm diameter, white or pale to deep pink with a persistent dark or pinkish carpel, maturing in late autumn; the fruit stalks are distinctively red.

The fruit commonly persist long into the winter after leaf fall; after being softened by frost they are readily eaten by thrushes and waxwings, which disperse the seeds.

[3] Outside of its native range, it is grown as an ornamental tree for its decorative pale pink or white fruit in western Europe and the Pacific Northwest of North America.