Shrubs 0.5-1.5 m tall, densely branched. Branches green, becoming grayish or brownish with age, 4-angled, slender, glabrous. Leaves opposite or alternate; petiole almost absent; leaf blade green or black-purple adaxially, slightly paler abaxially, linear or linear-lanceolate, 2-6 × 0.3-0.6 cm, stiffly papery, abaxially smooth, adaxially rugose when dried, both surfaces glabrous, base gradually narrowed, margin revolute in dry conditions, apex ± acute; midrib raised abaxially, lateral veins obscure or conspicuous, 5 or 6 pairs. Inflorescences terminal and subterminal, racemose, 3-7 cm, often 10-20-flowered; peduncle 2-3 cm. Pedicel ca. 1 mm, articulate. Calyx yellowish green, exterior sometimes very dark; tube narrowly cylindric, 10-13 × ca. 2 mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 5, ovate-oblong, ca. 1.5 mm, apex obtuse-rounded. Stamens 10, lower whorl inserted at middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat; filaments much shorter than anthers; anthers ca. 1 mm; upper ones exserted from calyx tube. Disk scale 1, linear, apex acute. Ovary oblong, 3-4.5 mm, base slightly narrowed, apex pubescent; style ca. 0.5 mm; stigma globose, papillose. Drupe reddish, ovoid, ca. 8 mm. Fl. and fr. winter.
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