Shrubs, deciduous, 1-3 m tall. Branches grayish brown or reddish brown, subterete; shoots reddish brown, scarcely verruculose; spines simple, rarely 3-fid, 0.5-2 cm, adaxially sulcate, sometimes absent. Petiole 5-15 mm; leaf blade abaxially pale yellow-green, adaxially green, shiny, ovate to elliptic, 2-7 × 1-3 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, abaxially not pruinose, midvein obviously raised, adaxially with slightly impressed midvein, both surfaces with slightly visible reticulate veins, base contracted to decurrent petiole, margin 15-30-spinulose-serrulate on each side, apex acute or subacute. Inflorescence a panicle, 20-40-flowered, 5-14 cm including peduncle 1-3 cm, glabrous; bracts linear-subulate, 3-3.5 mm. Pedicels 4-10 mm, slender; bractlets reddish, 1.5-2 mm, apex acute. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals ovate, ca. 2.4 × 1.5 mm, apex acute; median sepals ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm; inner sepals obovate, 3.3-4.3 × 2-2.5 mm. Petals oblong, 3.5-4.5 × 2.5-3 mm, base cuneate, with separate oblong glands, apex acute, slightly incised. Stamens 2.5-3.5 mm; anther connective slightly prolonged, rounded. Ovules 2, sessile. Berry scarlet, obovoid-ellipsoid, 10-12 × 4-6 mm, not pruinose, style ± persistent. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Oct.

● Thickets, forests, weedy slopes; 1400-4000 m. Gansu, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang.