Young branches red. Leaves scattered along branchlets; blades bright green, narrowly elliptic to oblong, 2–6 cm, base acute, margins minutely serrulate, apex acute, abaxial surface glabrous or puberulent on midrib and veins, adaxial glabrous. Drupes globose.

Flowering Apr–Jul. Chaparral, woodlands; 1000–2700 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.