Shrubs scandent. Branchlets brown or grayish brown, terete, initially yellowish brown tomentose, glabrescent, with sparse, curved minute prickles. Leaves simple; petiole 1–2 cm, tomentose when young, glabrate in age, with sparse, short prickles; stipules caducous, ovate-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 6–9 mm, tomentose, apex acuminate; blades broadly ovate, 5–10 × 3–6 cm, lateral veins 7–9 pairs, prominent abaxially, leathery, abaxially densely yellowish brown to rust colored tomentose, adaxially green brown, glabrous, base cordate, margin shallowly obtusely coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, racemes, 4–8 cm, few flowered; rachis, pedicels, and calyx yellowish white tomentose-villous, with sparse, needle-like prickles, with intermixed glandular hairs 1.5–2.5 cm; bracts narrowly elliptic or narrowly ovate-lanceolate, abaxially tomentose-villous, with intermixed glandular hairs, adaxially sparsely hairy, margin entire or lobed, apex acuminate. Pedicel 2–4 cm. Sepals erect after anthesis, lanceolate, 7–11 × 3–5(–7) mm, margin entire or 2-lobed, apex acuminate. Petals obovate, 7–10 × 4–6 mm, base tomentose, clawed, apex obtuse. Stamens many, shorter than petals; filaments broad, complanate, glabrous. Pistils much longer than stamens. Aggregate fruit red, subglobose, to 1.5 cm in diam., glabrous; pyrenes smooth or slightly rugose. Fl. Mar–Apr, fr. Jun–Jul.