Shrub with straggling branches, hoary or pubescent; leaves simple, oblong, lanceolate, elliptic or obovate, coriaceous, base cuneate, margin entire, apex subacute or retuse, stipules as recurved thorns; flowers 3 cm across, white in corymbose or subsumbellate clusters, peduncles 1.5 cm; sepals 4, free, ovate or oblong, ciliate, outer pair coriaceous, inner membranous; petals 4, white, glabrous, narrowly obovate, imbricate; stamens numerous, inserted on a torus at the base of long gynophore; oary long stalked usually 1-celled, ovules many in pareital placentation; stigma sessile; fruit subglobular, fleshy berry on slender stalk, black, about 2 cm across; seeds 1-2.