Evergreen shrub with rambling or straggling branches, 1-2(-4) m, tall; branches usually minutely or inconspicuously pubescent, unarmed to conspicuously prickly with hooked spines. Leaves opposite, decussate, ovate to ovate-oblong, (2-) 5-10 (-12) cm long, (1.5-) 2-5 cm broad, crenate-serrate, acute to shortly acuminate, ± rugose, scabrid; petiole 5-10 (-12) mm long. Flowering heads axillary, peduncled, umbellate in flower, shorter to exceeding the subtending leaves, 2-3 cm across. Bracts lanceolate to linear, 5-7 mm broad, acute to subulate, rarely a few larger ones also present. Flowers 5-8 mm across, mostly orange or yellow, turning to red or scarlet later. Calyx 2-3 mm long, thin, pubescent. Corolla-tube 7-10 (-12) mm long, pubescent, slightly enlarged and curved above the middle; limb 4 lobed with spreading, ± rounded lobes. Drupe 3-5 mm in diameter, globose; fleshy, black, shining, 2-seeded.