Erect shrub 1–3 m high, more or less glabrous. Leaves linear, mostly 1–4 cm long, 1–3 mm wide, apex blunt or mucronate, base tapering into petiole, margins recurved to revolute, lower surface hairy but usually obscured by margins; petiole to c. 3 mm long. Flowers in terminal clusters usually consisting of 1 female with 3–6 males (then females usually flowering first), or all males; peduncle 10–20 mm long. Calyx 3–4 mm long, teeth triangular, about as long as tube, hairy inside; petals ovate, 10–15 mm long, white. Capsule subglobose, c. 12 mm diam., densely muricate; seed obloid, 6–10 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, smooth, mottled. Flowers mostly winter and spring.