Shrubs, evergreen, 1-2 m tall. Branches deep gray, sparsely black verruculose; shoots pale grayish yellow; spines 3-fid, subterete, 1-3 cm, stout. Petiole 1-5 mm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, brownish yellow when dry, slightly shiny, adaxially shiny, dark green, oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, 3.5-8 × 1-2.5 cm, leathery, abaxially not pruinose, midvein obviously raised, lateral and reticulate veins indistinct, adaxially with impressed midvein, lateral veins slightly visible, reticulate veins indistinct, base cuneate, margin 5-12-spinose-serrate on each side, apex acuminate. Flowers 3-7-fascicled. Pedicels reddish, 7-15 mm; bractlets red, ovate, ca. 1.3 mm. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals ovate-elliptic, ca. 2.5 × 2 mm; median sepals ovate-elliptic, ca. 5.5 × 4 mm; inner sepals obovate, ca. 7 × 6 mm. Petals oblong-obovate, ca. 6 × 4 mm, base cuneate, with contiguous glands, apex emarginate with rounded lobes. Stamens ca. 5 mm; anther connective obviously prolonged, truncate. Ovules 2 or 3, subsessile. Berry deep purple, oblong-ellipsoid or ellipsoid, 7-10 × 5-5.5 mm, pruinose, style persistent; seeds 2 or 3, obovoid-globose or ellipsoid. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Oct.