A sturdy bush 5 to 8 ft high; young shoots stiff, purplish, covered with a soft, fine down. Leaves oblong or somewhat obovate, tapered or bluntish at the apex, rounded or tapered at the base, 1 to 2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, dull green above, grey beneath, downy on both surfaces but especially beneath; stalk 1⁄6 to 1⁄4 in, long, downy, purplish. Flowers in pairs from the leaf-axils on a slender downy stalk, 1⁄3 in. or more long. Corolla 3⁄5 in. long, with five short nearly equal lobes, which are purple; the tube paler, hairy, funnel-shaped, and protruded at the base; bracts awl-shaped. Berries more or less united, blue-black.
Native of the Himalaya up to altitudes of 13,000 ft, and very hardy; introduced to Kew in 1884. A neat bush with a purplish cast, but of little merit.