A deciduous shrub of dense, bushy, rounded habit, up to 10 ft high and 12 ft through; young shoots hairy. Leaves mostly heart-shaped, sometimes roundish, the apex scarcely pointed, dark dull green above, grey beneath, both surfaces downy. On the vigorous barren shoots some of the leaves are 2 in. long and nearly as much wide; on the flowering branchlets they are mostly 1⁄2 to 1 in. long; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers produced in pairs from the end and upper leaf-axils of short shoots; corolla two-lipped, 3⁄4 in. long and the same wide, pale yellow, not fragrant, downy outside, the tube curved and about as long as the slightly lobed limb. Bracts like the leaves but ovate, and 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long; flower-stalk very short.
Native of the Caucasus, Persia, etc.; introduced in 1824. A very robust shrub of neat habit, free-flowering without being showy. Botanically, it is distinguished by the bractlets coalescing into a cup-shaped organ enveloping the two ovaries, which, however, grow out of the cup and develop into bright red berries which are very attractive.
