Deciduous shrubs, 1-2 m tall; young branches and twigs 4-angled, green or brown when dry. Petiole sessile or very short, 1-3 mm; leaf blade papery, ovate or ovate-elliptic, 3.5-5 × 1.8-2.5 cm, base cuneate or suborbicular, margin crenulate, apex acute or acuminate; lateral veins ca. 5 pairs, invisible, disappearing before reaching margin. Pedicel slender, less than ca. 1 cm. Flowers single, axillary, 4-merous, 8-9 mm in diam.; sepals orbicular; petals light yellow or greenish yellow, orbicular, base nearly attenuate. Capsule reddish brown when fresh, brown or gray when dry, ca. 1 cm in diam., 4-lobed, sometimes only 3 lobes developing, lobes ovoid. Aril bright red. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Nov.