Evergreen shrubs, scandent, 3-4 m tall; branches and twigs sturdy, striate, green or brown when dry. Petiole 1-1.4 cm; leaf blade thinly leathery or papery, elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or long elliptic, 10-15 × 2.5-4.5 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin crenulate on distal 2/3, nearly entire on proximal 1/3, apex acute, acuminate, or caudate; lateral veins 6-8 pairs, impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially, netting before reaching margin. Peduncle 4-6 cm, 2 or 3 × dichotomously branched with many flowers; pedicel glabrous, 5-7 mm. Flowers 4-merous, small, 6-7 mm in diam.; sepals suborbicular; petals green, ovate, base attenuate. Ovary densely long prickly; stigma absent. Capsule red when fresh, yellow-brown or gray when dry, nearly globose, 1.5-2 cm in diam., 4-lobed, densely prickly, prickles 6-7 mm. Aril bright red. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Forests, scrub; 1000-2600 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.