Size: shrub, 10-15' average height at maturity
Leaves: evergreen, alternate, variable, 1-2.5" on long shoots, .5"-1.5" on flowering shoots, from .25-.75" wide, simple, narrow elliptic to lanceolate, tip acute, margins crenulate or serrulate, shiny dark green, brownish in winter in exposed site
Twigs: often have leaflike stipules at base of petiole adjacent to winter bud, branches usually thorny at apex with additional thorns at side down the stem, woolly when young, shiny brown later
Flowers: monoecious, .3", whitish, in clusters up to 2" wide, unpleasant smell, blooms May-June
Fruit: in flat-topped clusters, .25" wide, orange-red, usually don't persist into winter
