Shrub or small tree 1–4 m high, with spines up to 3.5 cm long; branches green turning grey, without or with few inconspicuous lenticels, glabrous; young branches four-angled. Leaves alternate or clustered on short shoots; petiole 1–3(–4) mm long; blade 1–3.5(–8) x 0.3–1.8(–4) cm, elliptic or oblanceolate to obovate, papery to somewhat leathery, glabrous, obtuse, rounded or retuse or rarely acute at the apex, cuneate at the base, margin serrulate to subentire. Cymes 5–16(–20) mm long, glabrous; peduncle 1–6 mm long; pedicel 1–6 mm long; flowers 3–12 in each cyme, 3.7–6 mm in diam., functionally unisexual. Sepals 5, 1–1.3 x 0.5–1 mm, ovate to triangular with ciliolate margins. Petals 5, 1.5–2.8 x 1–1.5 mm. Male flowers with 5 stamens longer than the pistillode. Female flowers with 5 staminodes shorter than the ovary; ovary 2(–3)-celled. Disk ± concave, 5-lobed. Capsule green to yellow turning brown when dried, obovoid to globose, trigonous, 3–5 mm long, glabrous. Seeds 2–4, reddish-brown, glossy, with a yellowish aril covering 1/3–2/3 of the length of the seed.
