Shrubs, deciduous, erect, to 5 m tall. Spines thick; young branches and fruit with dense rust-colored or brown scales. Petiole 4-8 mm, with rust-colored or brown scales; leaf blade drying somewhat blackish, abaxially mottled brown, broadly elliptic or oblanceolate, 4-8 × 1.8-3.5 cm, papery, abaxially with overlapping scales, scales with brown center and pale, irregularly shallowly divided, toothed margins, adaxially with light white scales while young, scales similar to abaxial scales, lateral veins 6-8 per side of midrib, obscure, base rounded or cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse to acuminate. Flowers often 5-7 in axillary clusters or along very short shoot. Pedicel very short or absent; fruiting pedicel 3-9 mm, thick. Flowers brown, inside yellow, outside with overlapping brown or yellow scales; scales shallowly lobed, subentire, inside completely glabrous. Calyx tube tubular-campanulate, 5-6 mm, conspicuously constricted above ovary, with sparse white stellate hairs or narrow pilose ring around throat; lobes broadly ovate, 2-4(-6) mm, inside yellow. Filaments very short, ca. 0.3 mm; anthers oblong, 1-1.6 mm. Style straight, ca. 8 mm, usually glabrous. Drupe red, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.6 × ca. 0.8 cm; scales dense, silvery brown, irregularly shallowly lobed. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

● Eastern slopes, streamsides; 700-1600 m. Chongqing, N Guizhou, Sichuan.