A deciduous shrub 3 to 6 ft high, with slender, divergent branches; young wood glabrous or nearly so. Leaves obovate or oval, rounded or notched at the apex, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide, bright green and glabrous above, rather glaucous, downy, and sprinkled with resin-dots beneath. Flowers produced in June and July on loose, slender racemes 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, each flower on a threadlike, pendulous stalk 1⁄3 to 1 in. long. Corolla roundish bell-shaped, scarcely 1⁄5 in. long, purplish green; calyx-lobes glabrous, triangular. Fruits blue, 1⁄3 in. or more wide, globose, glabrous, very palatable.
Native of the eastern United States; introduced in 1761. This is one of the handsomest of the gaylussacias, and is distinct in the long-stalked flowers and lax racemes, and the bluntish leaves. The popular name refers to the loosely hanging fruits; they are not freely developed in this country.