Shrubs, evergreen, 1-2 m tall. Stems terete; branches dark gray or brown; shoots reddish, scarcely verruculose; spines 3-fid, concolorous, 1-2.5 cm. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade abaxially gray-green, adaxially deep green, shiny, linear-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 2-6 cm × 2.5-8 mm, leathery, abaxially papillose, sometimes slightly pruinose, midvein raised, both surfaces with inconspicuous lateral and reticulate veins, base cuneate, margin occasionally entire or 2-8-spinose-serrate on each side, apex acuminate or acute, aristate. Flowers 2-6-fascicled. Pedicels 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous; bractlets reddish, ovate, ca. 1 mm. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals ovate-orbicular, ca. 2 × 1.8 mm; median sepals ovate, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm, apex acute; inner sepals obovate, ca. 5 × 4 mm, apex obtuse. Petals obovate, ca. 4 × 3 mm, base cuneate, with separate oblong glands, apex emarginate. Stamens ca. 2 mm; anther connective prolonged, truncate. Ovules 2 or 3. Berry blue-black, ellipsoid, 6-8 × 4-5 mm, slightly pruinose. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Oct.
Home