Shrubs evergreen, 0.4-1.5 m tall, densely branched. Branches strigose. Leaves alternate, usually clustered at apices of branches; petiole absent to almost absent; leaf blade oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or obovate-elliptic, 1.4-4(-7) × 0.6-1.4 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous. base cuneate, margin revolute, apex obtuse or retuse and apiculate. Inflorescences terminal, usually several flowered; peduncle ca. 2 mm, densely strigose; bracts caducous, oblong to ovate-oblong or obovate-oblong, 5-8 × 3-4 mm, glabrous, apex rounded. Flowers fragrant; pedicel absent or almost absent, glabrous. Calyx purplish red abaxially with paler purple-pink or white lobes; tube cylindric, 6-8 mm, exterior pubescent; lobes 4, broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, 6-9 mm, apex rounded to obtuse, rarely acuminate. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted at middle of calyx tube, upper whorl just below throat; filaments ca. 0.5 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 1.5 mm. Disk annular, glabrous, undulate. Ovary cylindric or obovoid, ca. 2 mm, glabrous; style very short; stigma capitate, densely tomentose. Drupe red, subglobose or ovoid, 6-8 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

Shrubby or herbaceous slopes; 3000-3900 m. Gansu, Hubei, Qinghai, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India (Assam, Punjab), Kashmir, Nepal].