Shrubby, erect with ascending early glabrous branches, 1 1/2–2 1/2 ft. high. Leaves alternate, succulent, ovate, strongly reduplicate along the midrib, the apex when thus folded more or less incurved or falcate, obtuse, glabrous or papillose, deep green when fresh; 1/2–1 1/4 in. long, varying to nearly 1 in. broad when forcibly flattened, rather abruptly narrowed into a petiole of 1/4– 1/2 in. Flowers greenish in short axillary fascicles or few-flowered racemules shorter than the leaf, about 1/3 in. broad. Calyx-lobes 4 (or 2), unequal, obtuse, spreading, papillose. Stamens 12–20. Styles 3 or 2, slightly exceeding the calyx. Fruit 4–3-winged, obovate or roundish in outline, 1/2– 3/4 in. long and broad, dull, nerveless between the wings, 2–1-celled by abortion (Dr. Welwitsch).
