Shrubs dioecious, to 1.5 m tall, spinose or unarmed. Young branches glabrous or subglabrous; branchlets opposite or subopposite, rarely alternate, gray-brown or purple-black, sometimes terminating in a spine; terminal buds small with few scales; axillary buds inconspicuous. Leaves opposite or subopposite, rarely alternate, fascicled on short shoots; stipules lanceolate, longer than petioles, sparsely ciliate, persistent; petiole 2-6 mm, puberulent; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate-elliptic, 4-10 × 1-2.2 cm, papery, abaxially clustered hairy only in vein axils, adaxially puberulent initially on veins, glabrescent, lateral veins (4 or)5 or 6(or 7) pairs, prominent abaxially, conspicuously impressed adaxially, base cuneate, margin crenate-dentate, apex caudate-acuminate or acuminate, mucronulate; mucro ca. 2 mm, erect or curved. Flowers unisexual, 4-merous. Pedicels ca. 5 mm. Petals present. Male flowers few- to 10-fascicled on short shoots, with rudimentary pistil. Female flowers 1- to few fascicled in leaf axils on short shoots; rudimentary stamens minute; ovary 3-loculed; style 3-fid or cleft to half. Drupe purple-black, obovoid-globose, often slightly asymmetric, 3.5-4 mm in diam., with persistent style at apex, persistent calyx tube at base, and 2 or 3 stones; fruiting pedicel 5-7 mm, glabrous. Seeds abaxially with margined furrow extending over 2/3 of length.

● Forests, thickets, slopes; 1000-2000 m. W Hubei, E Sichuan, SE Yunnan (Guangnan).