Shrubs or small trees, to 5 m tall, with thorny branches. Branches dark brown when old, initially rusty pubescent, glabrous when old. Petiole 3–6 mm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong or oblanceolate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, 2–7 × 0.8–1.8 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base broadly cuneate or slightly rounded, margin crenulate or sparsely so, apex acute or obtuse. Compound corymb 3–5 cm in diam., many flowered; peduncle initially brown pubescent basally, glabrescent; bracts caducous, lanceolate. Pedicel 4–10 mm, glabrous. Flowers 6–9 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, glabrous. Sepals triangular, 1–1.2 mm, abaxially glabrous, apex acute. Petals orbicular, 4–5 × 3–4 mm, apex rounded. Stamens 20; filaments 2–3 mm. Ovary densely white pubescent apically; styles nearly as long as stamens. Pome orangish yellow or orangish red when mature, nearly globose, 3–8 mm in diam.; sepals persistent, erect. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Aug–Nov.

Slopes, roadsides, stream sides, among shrubs, grassy places, valleys; 700--2500 m. Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal].