Small shrub with red-brown branches. Leaves drying dark olive-brown above, oblanceolate, 9–16 cm long, 3–4(–5) cm wide, acuminate to a subobtuse apex, attenuate to long-cuneate at the base, margin irregularly serrate-dentate, the teeth very acute, hardly 1 mm long, (2–)3–4 mm apart; midrib very prominent beneath; lateral veins rather irregular, the main ones 1–1.5 cm apart, arcuate-ascending with numerous intermediaries, together with tertiary venation very prominent above but much less so beneath; petiole thick, 2–3 mm long. Flowers in few-flowered lax very shortly pedunculate cyme-like inflorescences; pedicels ± 1.5 cm long, jointed 3–4 mm from base. Sepals reddish, oblong, 8 mm long, 3 mm wide in flower but ovate-triangular in fruit and attaining 1.7 cm long, 6 mm wide. Petals yellow, obovate-oblong, 13 mm long, 7 mm wide, distinctly unguiculate. Anthers 5.5–7 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores, subsagittate at base; filaments 1–2 mm long. Drupelets in fruits seen single, black, subglobose, 8 mm diameter.