Shrubs deciduous, to 2 m tall. Young branches glabrous or pilose; old branches dark brown. Stipules narrowly lanceolate, caducous; petiole 2-4 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially gray, adaxially dark green, elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic, 2-5 × 1-2 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 4 or 5(or 6) pairs, base subrounded or broadly cuneate, broadest at middle, margin inconspicuously serrulate or entire at basal half and serrulate at upper half, apex acute. Flowers yellow-green, glabrous, solitary or 2-5-fascicled in axils of leaf, or in pedunculate cymes. Drupe orange at maturity, subglobose, 6-8 mm, 3-4 mm in diam., with rudimentary styles at apex; fruiting pedicel (immature) 2-3 mm. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Sep.

This species is quite similar to Rhamnella wilsonii, but the latter differs in having leaves ovate or ovate-elliptic, usually broadest at base.

Subalpine forests and thickets; 2600-2900 m. SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Kashmir].