Shrublet up to 3(-5?) m. Branchlets slender, blackish. Stipules c. 3 by 1 mm, acuminate, serrulate. Leaves oblong to oblanceolate, 4-15 by 1½-4 cm, obtuse at apex, mucronate, tapering at base, margin faintly denticulate, nerves c. 1 mm apart; petiole to 1½ cm. Racemes lax, 5-30 cm long, often pseudolateral, sometimes drooping, rachis slender, branches ± shortened; bracts on the rachis 5-12 by 1-2 mm, caducous, on branches trigonous, c. 1 mm long, acuminate. Flowers functionally polygamous, complete, often 2 or more conferted. Sepals obovate, unequal, 4-4½ by 2½-3½ mm. ciliate near the apex, acuminate. Petals lanceolate, 6-8 by 2½-3 mm, distinctly reflexed in ♂ flowers. Anthers 3½-4½ by c. 1 mm, yellow. Ovary in ♀ or ☿ flowers obovoid, 5-ribbed, c. 2½ by 1⅓ mm; style c. 2½ mm long, widening into the ovary; ovary in ♂ flowers very much reduced, depressed-globular, shallowly 5-lobed, c. 0.2 by 0.4 mm; style c. 0.2 mm, broadly conical at base. Fruit globular, up to 6 mm ø, acuminate, 5-ribbed, red. Seeds semi-annular, c. 4 by 2½ mm.
From sea-level up to 1250 m, often found with the previous species, but generally in drier and more exposed places (see also under the genus).
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