Shrubs, small; branches drying ashen-gray smooth but often gnarled, the branchlets arising almost at right angles, soon defoliated, short, stiff and spike-like; stipules deciduous. Leaves shortly petiolate, clustered at the apices of the branches, soon deciduous; blades somewhat narrow-elliptic, elliptic-obovate, oval-elliptic or ovate, 4-9 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, rounded or widely cuneate at the apex, obtuse to cuneate at the base, coriaceous, lustrous, the costa prominulous above and below, the lateral veins ca 15, prominulous, somewhat evanescent, arcuate-ascending, the intervenal areas patulous, prominulous, the margin delicately repand or vaguely serrulate, the teeth disposed as glandular points. Inflorescences racemiform (or paniculate?), shorter than the leaves (or longer fide Standley), the rachis slender, stiff, the flowers usually in relatively dense clusters, with 3 flowers per cluster, on very reduced sympodia up to 2 mm long, the pedicels ca 8 mm long, slender. Flowers appearing before the leaves; buds ovate, ca 5 mm long; sepals 5-7 mm long; petals up to 9 mm long. Fruits with druplets up to 1 cm long, very lustrous and black.
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