Shrub up to 3 m high, twiggy, densely branched and very spiny, evergreen; branches divaricate, minutely papillose or puberulous to pubescent, very rarely glabrous in the young stage; bark greenish, wrinkled, sap milky; spines once or twice bifurcate, 2-4-5 cm long, arising usually in pairs at the apex of a shoot and decussate to the apical pair of leaves, persistent, green, becoming stout and woody. Leaves coriaceous, ovate-elliptic to elliptic, 1 -5-2-8 cm long and 1-1-5 cm broad, truncate to obtuse at the base, rarely subcordate, apex obtuse to acute, mucronate, glossy dark green above, paler below, puberulous to minutely papillose or glabrous, lower surface often wrinkled; secondary nerves 4-6 on each side, obscure; petiole short, up to 3 mm long, channelled above; axillary glands small; stipules 0. Inflorescence cymose, contracted, few-flowered, subsessile; bracts linear-lanceolate, 1 -5 mm long; pedicels up to 1 mm long, puberulous. Flowers small, white, scented. Calyx 2-5-3 mm long, puberulous; sepals 5, ovate, acute or, rarely, acuminate. Corolla salver-shaped; tube cylindric, 6-7 mm long, slightly wider towards the mouth, pubescent or glabrous without, hairy within especially at the throat; lobes 5, broadly ovate to subrotund, 2 mm long and 3 mm broad, apex truncate to obtuse, usually minutely mucronulate, overlapping to the left, usually pubescent on both surfaces. Stamens 5, inserted towards the apex of the tube; anthers subsessile 1-5 mm long. Ovary entire, 2-chambered, each with 1 or 2 ovules; style filiform 4 mm long; stigma level with the anthers, ellipsoid, minutely bifurcate at the apex. Fruit a berry, ovoid or subglobose, 6-8 mm long and 4-5 mm in diameter, black or bluish-purple, edible. Seeds 1 or 2, irregularly elliptical in outline; testa rough, hard. Fig. 37: 3.
