A deciduous shrub 2 to 21⁄2 ft high; branches not or slightly spiny, often decumbent; young wood pale, very minutely glandular. Leaves dull green obovate, oval, or roundish, 1⁄3 to 3⁄4 in. long, from half to nearly as wide, glabrous, tapering at both ends, margins wavy and decurved; stalk 1⁄8 in. or less long with a pale, membranous, chaffy stipule at each side 1⁄4 in. long. Flowers pinkish white, produced in June in racemes that are 1 to 11⁄2 in. long; each flower is 1⁄3 in. diameter. Of the five divisions of the calyx, three remain, deepen in colour, and ultimately enclose the three-angled fruit. Flower-stalk slender, about 1⁄4 in. long, jointed at about one-third of its length from the base. Bot. Mag., t. 1065.
Native of the Caucasus, cultivated for more than a century in England, but not sufficiently showy to have ever become common. It is, nevertheless, interesting and pretty.