Slender shrub up to ± 3 dm. tall; branches lax, spreading; branchlets glabrate, at first clad in long white appressed to subappressed hairs; bark dark brown to almost black. Lvs ascending, becoming patent, approximate to distant, on petioles ± 1 mm. long. Lamina 9-10 × 2-4 mm., ovate-lanceolate to narrow-ovate to lanceolate (all forms may be on same plant) submembr. to subcoriac., dark green above, paler below; glab. or nearly so above, densely clad in appressed hairs below; margins and apex us. ciliate. Subfloral lvs broad-ovate, ± 7-8 × 5 mm. Infl. capitate, 5-12-fld; per. ± 7 mm. long, clad in appressed silky hairs; lobes ± 2 mm. long, broad-ovate to oblong. Fr. baccate, white or reddish, sts dry, ± 4 mm. long.