Shrubs, evergreen, 0.5-1 m tall. Branches dark gray, angulate, not verruculose; shoots pale yellow; spines absent or very weak, 3-fid, pale yellow, ca. 1 cm. Petiole 5-8 mm; leaf blade abaxially grayish green or yellowish green, adaxially dark green, elliptic, oblong, or narrowly elliptic, 4-9 × 1.8-3.5 cm, leathery, abaxially with obviously raised midvein and lateral veins, reticulate veins inconspicuous, adaxially with impressed midvein, lateral veins slightly raised, reticulate veins indistinct, base attenuate, margin 8-12-spinose-serrate on each side, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers 2-4-fascicled. Pedicels 8-18 mm; bractlets ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, apex acute. Sepals in 2 whorls; outer sepals elliptic-oblong, 3.5-4.5 × 1.8-2.5 mm; inner sepals elliptic, 5-5.5 × 3-3.5 mm, apex rounded. Petals obovate, ca. 4 × 2.5 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens ca. 3 mm; anther connective slightly thickened with 2 small teeth. Ovules 4-6. Fruit stalk often reddish. Berry black, oblong, 8-9 × 5-6 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Oct.