Shrubs, evergreen, to 3 m tall. Stems very sulcate; branches dark gray; shoots pale yellow, sparsely black verruculose; spines 3-fid, pale yellow, 1-3 mm. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade abaxially shiny, pale yellow-green, adaxially dark green, linear-lanceolate, 1.5-6 cm × 3-6 mm, slightly leathery, abaxially not pruinose, midvein conspicuously raised, adaxially with obviously impressed midvein, both surfaces with inconspicuous lateral and reticulate veins, base cuneate, margin 7-14-spinulose-serrulate on each side, apex acute or acuminate, aristate. Flowers 2-7-fascicled. Pedicels reddish, 7-20 mm; bractlets red. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals red, ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm, apex acute; median and inner sepals yellow, elliptic, ca. 5 × 4.5 mm. Petals obovate, ca. 4 × 3 mm, base with separate lanceolate glands, apex slightly emarginate. Stamens ca. 3 mm; anther connective not prolonged, rounded or truncate. Ovules 2 or 3. Berry purplish red, ellipsoid, 7-12 × 4-5 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Oct.