Shrub, to 1.5 (4) m tall, densely to moderately stellate-pubescent; stems armed with stout recurved spines. Leaves alternate or subopposite in unequal pairs; petioles to 2.5 cm long; blades broadly elliptic, short-acuminate, obtuse to rounded and unequal at base, 5.5-12.5 (15) cm long, 3.5-7.5 cm wide. Racemes upper-axillary, unbranched; pedicels 6-15 mm long; flowers 5-parted; calyx 2.3-3 mm long, with 5 narrow teeth; corolla violet, 1.5-2 cm long, lobed nearly to base, glabrous to sparsely pubescent inside, spreading at anthesis; stamens ca 1-2 cm long; anthers to 1.5 cm long, yellow, attenuate at apex, with terminal pores; filaments very short; ovary and basal part of style stellate-pubescent; style 5-15 mm long, white with a green tip, exceeding anthers and curved to one side. Berries globose, 1-1.5 cm diam, red or orange; seeds many, brown, flattened, 3-3.5 mm long, 2.5-2.8 mm wide, ca 1.5 mm thick, weakly alveolate. Croat 7479. Occasional, in Rear # 8 Lighthouse Clearing. Common elsewhere in the Canal Zone. Flowering and fruiting nearly all year, but with fewer flowers during the late dry and early rainy seasons.