Shrubs, deciduous, to 1 m tall. Branches yellow-brown; shoots dark red, sulcate, black verruculose; spines 3-fid, 1-2.5 cm, slender. Leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, becoming purplish red in autumn, obovate or oblong-obovate, 3-6 × 1-2 cm, papery, abaxially papillose, midvein and lateral veins slightly raised, adaxially with 3 or 4 pairs of lateral veins, base attenuate, cuneate, margin usually entire, occasionally 2-or 3-spinose-serrate on each side, apex rounded or mucronate. Flowers usually 2-4-fascicled, sometimes to 10-flowered. Pedicels 2-4 cm, glabrous. Sepals in 2 whorls; outer sepals oblong-obovate, ca. 5 × 2.5 mm; inner sepals similar to outer sepals in form, 7-8 × 4-5 mm. Petals obovate, ca. 5 × 3 mm, base with separate glands, apex emarginate, with rounded lobes. Stamens ca. 4 mm; anther connective prolonged, subapiculate. Ovules 2 or 3. Berry purplish red, oblong-ovoid, 10-12 × 5-7 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct.
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A shrub. It grows 2-3 m high. It has spines 2.5 cm long. The leaves are broadly oval. The fruit are oval and bright red. They are 1.5 cm long.
It is a temperate plant. It grows in forests and on grassy slopes between 3,100-4,200 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.