Shrubs, deciduous or evergreen, up to 1.5 m. Stems erect, procumbent, or prostrate, branched, not joint, thick, glabrous, or glabrescent. Leaves clustered distally, sessile or subsessile; blade obovate or oblong to lanceolate surfaces glabrous or hairy.

Inflorescences terminal or axillary, capitate, fasciculate or racemose, flowers sessile [petiolate]; bracts 0. Flowers: hypanthium tubular to narrowly funnelform; calyx 4-lobed, lobes spreading or slightly reflexed; petals absent; stamens 8, usually included, in distal 1/2 of the tube; style included, short or absent; stigma capitate. Fruits drupaceous, yellow, red, or black, fleshy, hypanthium not persistent.