A deciduous shrub 6 to 9 ft high, of spreading habit; young shoots glabrous. Leaves opposite, obovate, oval, or oblanceolate, faintly toothed or entire, mostly rounded or bluntish at the apex, tapered at the base; 1⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide, quite glabrous; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in long. Flowers unisexual, clustered at the joints, small and inconspicuous. Fruits black, covered with blue bloom, egg-shaped, scarcely 1⁄4 in. long, each on a slender stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in long.
Native of the S.W. United States; introduced to Kew in 1925, but known to American botanists long before. F. acuminata is easily distinguished from F. neo-mexicana by its slenderly pointed, longer leaves and larger cylindrical fruits. The latter species is quite hardy and grows well in this country, but its chief attraction is in the fruits, for whose copious development our climate probably is not sunny enough.