Shrub or small tree 2-10 m high, the trunk up to 20 cm in diam, often spiny, the axillary spines on twigs sharp and up to 4 cm long, the branchlets inconspicu-ously puberulous to glabrous. Leaves subsessile to short-petiolate, the petiole to 6 mm long; blade polymorphous, typically elliptic to broadly elliptic (sometimes ? subrotund) and rounded on both ends, sometimes ovate or even narrowly ovate and obtuse to acute at the apex, the margins remotely appressed-glandular-serrulate, the serrations rounded, inflexed towards the margin and with their tips slightly overlapping the margin, to 12 cm long and 8 cm wide, rigid-chartaceous to sub-coriaceous, ? lustrous above and dull beneath, the costa prominent beneath, the reticulated venation inconspicuous on either side, glabrous. Flowers in fascicles, dioecious, yellowish, the pedicels slender, to 6 mm long, minutely puberulous, bracteate at the base; sepals 4-5, subrotund to ovate, ca 1.2-2 mm long, ciliolate along the margins, minutely puberulous externally; stamens ca 20-25, the filaments short-to long-exserted and to 2-3 mm long. Bacca subglobose, to 6 mm long, at first green, turning red, and finally black at maturity, glabrous, surmounted by the persistent, 2-3-lobed style, the stigmatic lobes spreading; seeds 2-5, angulate-ovoid, the testa reddish-brown, glabrous.
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