Shrubs, evergreen. Mature stems dark red, sparsely verruculose; internodes 1.5-3 cm; spines 3-fid, 1-2 cm, sulcate. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade adaxially shiny, dark green, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 1.5-4 cm × 4-10 mm, leathery, abaxially pruinose, not veined, finely papillose, adaxially ± not veined, base attenuate, margin conspicuously revolute, 5-12-spinose-serrate on each side, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary. Pedicels 1.8-2.5 cm. Sepals in 3 whorls; outer sepals ovate, ca. 4 × 3 mm, apex acute; median sepals obovate-elliptic, ca. 7 × 6 mm; inner sepals ca. 10 × 8 mm. Petals obovate, ca. 8 × 6 mm, basal glands oblong, apex slightly emarginate. Stamens ca. 5 mm; anther connective slightly prolonged, truncate. Ovules 9-12. Berry black, ovoid, ca. 10 × 6 mm, slightly pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. May, fr. Oct-Nov.

● Granite cliffs in valleys, forest understories; 2700-3000 m. SE Xizang.