Subshrub, erect, prostrate or decumbent, usually not exceeding 1 m in height, but by spreading its stems on the ground or hanging from walls or rocks it can reach up to 2-3 m. Old branches straight, \u00b1 brown-greyish, younger branches green or reddish. Internodes 1.5-7 cm. Stipules vestigial, promptly caducous, or \u00b1 persistent (depending on the subspecies and the habitat), spiny and curved backwards, up to 0.6 cm in length. Leaves (2-8.5 \u00d7 2-8 cm) from ovate to suborbicular, sometimes broadly elliptic, generally rounded at the base, acute or obtuse apex, sometimes emarginate, often mucronate (mucro up to 1.5 mm, straight or somewhat curved). Leaf veins visible and, depending on habitat and the subspecies, \u00b1 prominent. Petiole 0.5-2.5 cm. Flowers slightly zygomorphic, with sepals 1-2.5 \u00d7 0.5-1.2 cm. Pedicels 2-8 cm. Stamens 30-150, anthers 1.3-3 mm, with rounded apices. Fruit from oblong to obovate-ellipsoid; green at first, becoming dark green or dark red and opening longitudinally when ripe; it opens on one side, showing the reddish, pink or yellowish pulp inside, filled with small seeds; then, it opens on the other or several sides and it becomes blackish. Seeds dark brown when mature, subspherical, about 2-3.5 mm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12912","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n