Shrubs, deciduous, much branched, 0.9-1.2 m tall. Spines to 1 cm, slender; older branches gray, glabrous; young branches rust-colored. Petiole rust-colored, 2-3 mm, slender; leaf blade elliptic, 1.7-2.5 × 0.9-1.1 cm, stiff, leathery, abaxially with overlapping silvery scales and scattered brown scales, adaxially very sparsely scaly when young, then glabrous, lateral veins usually 4 per side of midrib, slightly raised abaxially, indistinct adaxially, base rounded, margin entire, apex rounded or subacute. Flowers solitary in axils of deciduous bracts on new shoots. Pedicel ca. 1.5 mm. Flowers scaly outside, scales mostly silvery, some brown. Calyx tube campanulate, ca. 3 mm; lobes broadly ovate, both surfaces with rust-colored and silvery scales. Filaments very short; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 2 × as long as filaments. Style densely pubescent; stigma incurved. Fruit not seen.