Shrubs, deciduous, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Branches dark gray, slender, angulate, glabrous, black verruculose; shoots reddish purple; spines simple, pale yellow, 1-3 cm, stout. Petiole 2-6 mm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially shiny, dark green, oblanceolate or spatulate-oblanceolate, 1-5 cm × 3-10 mm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, not pruinose, not papillose, abaxially with slightly raised midvein and reticulate veins, adaxially with flat midvein, lateral veins slightly conspicuous, both surfaces with conspicuous reticulate veins, base attenuate, margin entire, occasionally 1-3-spinose-serrate on each side, apex rounded, obtuse. Inflorescence a spikelike raceme, 15-35-flowered, 2-4 cm including peduncle 5-10 mm, glabrous; bracts ca. 1.3 mm. Pedicels 1.5-4 mm, glabrous; bractlets reddish, lanceolate, ca. 1 mm. Sepals in 2 whorls; outer sepals ovate, 1.5-2.1 × ca. 1 mm, apex acute; inner sepals obovate, 2.5-3 × 1.5-2 mm. Petals obovate-elliptic, 1.8-2 × ca. 1.2 mm, base clawed, with separate glands, apex subacute, entire. Stamens ca. 1.5 mm; anther connective not prolonged, truncate. Ovules 1 or 2, sessile. Berry pale red, oblong, 4-5 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Sep.