Erect, often dense shrub 1–2 m high; branches stiff, often spinescent, pubescent at least when young. Leaves crowded, linear-oblong to narrow-lanceolate, mostly 5–20 mm long and 2–5 mm wide, obtuse to acute, thick-textured, glossy, glabrous, 1-veined beneath, margins slightly recurved; petiole to c. 1.5 mm long; stipules tubular, pubescent, margins ciliate. Flowers subsessile, unisexual, solitary, terminal on short branchlets. Male flowers with deeply toothed calyx; corolla broadly funnel-shaped, 4–5 mm long, lobes longer than tube. Female flowers with deeply toothed calyx; corolla tubular, 2–3 mm long, lobes longer than tube, recurved; style usually 2-branched. Drupe obloid, 5–10 mm long, crowned by persistent calyx, glossy, red to orange-red. Flowers Dec.–Mar.
HSF, HNF, VAlp. Also NSW, Tas. Occasional in montane and subalpine forests of eastern Victoria.
