Shrubs ca. 80 cm tall. Old branches gray-white; herbaceous branchlets of current year green; joints 1-4 cm. Pedicel red, 3-4 mm, jointed below middle. Flowers 1-3, at leaf axil. Tepals reflexed in fruit, red, broadly elliptic. Fruit yellow-brown, broadly ovoid, 1.6-1.8 × 1.4-1.6 cm. Achenes narrowly ovoid; apically elongated, coiled, obtusely ribbed; bristles in 1 row per rib, sparse, longer than width of achenes, flat at base, slightly enlarged, separate, 2-or 3-forked and crossed; apical branches short, slender, breakable. Fl. May, fr. May-Jun.