Shrubs erect or sprawling, 0.5-1(-2) m tall. Stems much branched; branches pale gray, slender, curved or pendulous, with thorns 0.5-2 cm. Leaves solitary or in clusters of 2-4; leaf blade ovate, rhombic, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, 1.5-5 × 0.5-2.5 cm (to 10 × 4 cm in cultivation). Inflorescences solitary or paired flowers on long shoots or fasciculate among leaves on short shoots. Pedicel 1-2 cm. Calyx campanulate, 3-4 mm, 3-5-divided to halfway, lobes densely ciliate. Corolla pale purple, 0.9-l.2 cm; tube funnel-form, shorter than or subequaling lobes, lobes pubescent at margin. Stamens slightly shorter or longer than corolla, with a villous ring slightly above filament base and adjacent corolla tube. Berry red, ovoid or oblong, 0.7-1.5 cm × 5-8 mm (ca. 2.2 × 1 cm in cultivation). Seeds numerous, yellow, 2.5-3 mm.

Slopes, wastelands, saline places, roadsides, near houses. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand; SW Asia, Europe].