A deciduous shrub 6 ft or more high; young shoots glabrous, sometimes spine-tipped. Leaves mostly alternate, sometimes opposite, ovate, oval, or roundish, mostly pointed, sometimes bluntish at the apex, tapered, rounded, or slightly heart-shaped at the base; margins finely and regularly set with sharp, almost bristle-pointed teeth, veins in four to six pairs, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, half to three-quarters as wide, bright green and glabrous; stalk 1⁄4 to 1 in. long. Flowers greenish, produced in axillary clusters or on short leafy spurs, each on a slender, glabrous stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Fruits roundish pear-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long, black.
Native of N. China and originally described in 1866 from specimens collected by Dr Tatarinov in 1851. W. Purdom found it in the province of Chili in 1909, and it is probably from his seed that the plants now in cultivation were raised. The species is distinct amongst the Chinese species by the bristle-tipped teeth of its leaves and its long-stalked flowers and fruit.