Shrubs, evergreen, 1-2 m tall. Branches pale gray; shoots pale yellow, terete; spines 3-fid, concolorous, 1.4-2.7 cm, stout. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially shiny, green, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 3-8 × 1-2.5 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially not pruinose, midvein and lateral veins raised, adaxially with conspicuous midvein and lateral veins, both surfaces with indistinct reticulate veins, base cuneate, margin sometimes revolute, coarsely 2-6-aristate-dentate on each side, apex acute, aristate. Flowers 2-6-fascicled. Pedicels 1-2 cm, glabrous; bractlets triangular-ovate, ca. 3 × 1.5 mm. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals obovate or ovate-elliptic, ca. 5.1 × 3.8 mm; median sepals elliptic, ca. 8 × 5 mm; inner sepals obovate, ca. 7 × 5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals obovate, ca. 5.2 × 4 mm, base clawed, with approximate glands, apex entire. Stamens ca. 4 mm; anther connective prolonged, truncate. Ovules 3 or 4, shortly funiculate. Berry green (immature), ellipsoid, 7-9 × ca. 5 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Tsuga forests; 2600-2900 m. Xizang.