A deciduous, unarmed shrub, up to 6 or 8 ft high, of bushy habit; shoots covered with brownish scales. Leaves ovate or oval, 1⁄2 to 2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide, dull dark green above, and at first furnished with silvery starry tufts of hairs especially along the midrib and veins; the under-surface woolly and specked with numerous brownish scales; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄6 in. long. Fruits yellowish red, egg-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long.
Native of N. America, where it is widely spread both in the United States and Canada; in cultivation 1759. I have seen this shrub growing wild on the cliffs of the Genesee River gorge in New York State, between Rochester and Lake Ontario, loaded with its beautiful reddish fruits in July; but in England they are rarely developed. The shrub is interesting, and the singular aspect of the under-surface of the leaf under the lens is worth notice, the thick basis of silvery hair-tufts being interspersed with brown scales, each scale with a dark, glistening, eye-like centre.