Densely branched evergreen shrub, 1-6 m high. Shoots and young lvs with minute glandular scales. Lvs subsessile or shortly petiolate, alternate on young shoots but on mature stems mostly in fascicles on short spurs along the rigid branch spines. Lamina 5-43 × 3-12 mm, oblong, linear-oblong or spathulate; base attenuate; apex rounded-truncate. Fls 1-2-(3) together, on short spurs. Pedicels slender, c. 5 mm long at flowering, to 2 cm long at fruiting. Calyx 4-8 mm long, tubular-campanulate; teeth triangular, obtuse to acute. Corolla 10-13 mm long; tube broad-cylindric; lobes 4-5 mm long, obovate, pale mauve or cream; apex rounded. Filaments hairy at base. Fr. 5-12-(14) mm diam., globular or somewhat obovoid, scarlet.