Evergreen shrub or tree, dioecious, up to 10-12 m in height, erect, very ramose and dense. When it becomes a tree, it usually has a straight trunk, with smooth bark, slightly or not fissured in the middle and upper parts, greyish-brown. Branches upright, greyish, glabrous. Branchlets greenish, usually puberulent. Leaves (4-12 cm long) from ovate to ovate-oblong, \u00b1 ellipsoid, acute, petiolate, alternate, rigid, with undulate margin with large spiny teeth, sometimes with entire margin (especially in older trees), completely glabrous, bright dark green on the upper side and greenish-yellowish, matt on the underside. Dioecious flowering. Inflorescence axillary in dense cymes, or more rarely, solitary flowers. Flowers 5-9 mm in diameter, tetramerous (rarely pentamerous). Calyx with 4 ovate sepals, greenish and somewhat hairy. Corolla with 4 petals fused at the base, concave, ovate, white or pink; usually with small purple spots, highly visible in bud. Stamens 4, inserted between the petals. Fruits drupaceous, globose (6-10 mm), fleshy, with smooth and deep red, shiny surface, with peduncle of the same length. Seeds 3-5, slightly elongated, triangular in cross section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-13440","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n