Shrubs, to 3 m, flowering at 1 m; rhizomes absent. Stems clustered, branches at colony margin decumbent or trailing and rooting at the nodes, forming large thickets; bark gray, flaky, not corky, appearing braided, splitting longitudinally; branchlets brown, pink, or maroon, appressed-hairy; lenticels inconspicuous, swelling but seldom protruding or extruding tissue on 2d year branches, periderm swelling around them and often over large contiguous areas; pith brown. Leaves: petiole 3–7 mm; blade lanceolate, elliptic, or obovate, 3–5 × 1.5–2.5 cm, base cuneate, apex abruptly acuminate or rounded, abaxial surface pale green, adaxial surface gray-green, both surfaces with hairs appressed, sparse; secondary veins 3–4(–5) per side, evenly spaced, basal vein arising 5–10 mm from blade base. Inflorescences flat-topped or slightly convex, 2.5–4.5 cm diam., peduncle 10–20 mm; branches and pedicels green or maroon. Flowers: hypanthium densely appressed-hairy; sepals 0.4–0.8 mm; petals cream, 3–5 mm. Drupes blue, bleaching white in direct sun, globose or subglobose, 6–9 mm diam.; stone globose to subglobose, 4–6 mm diam., smooth, apex rounded. 2n = 22.
Stream banks, roadsides, fields, meadows; at elevations from 50-1,500 metres.
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