A deciduous shrub of rather lax, spreading habit, about 6 ft high; stems armed with solitary, stiff, short spines, from beneath which spring the leaves; pith chambered (divided into thin plates). Leaves alternate on the shoots of the year, oblong-lanceolate, finely ciliate, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, about 1⁄2 in. wide; produced in clusters on the year-old shoots. Flowers borne singly in the leaf-axils on slender stalks 1⁄2 in. long; they are solitary, or clustered two to four together; each flower 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. in diameter, petals five, bright yellow, roundish, tapered to a short claw. Fruits red and juicy, 3⁄5 in. long, ripening in August. Bot. Mag., t. 8711
Native of Manchuria; it was introduced from France in 1908 and is quite hardy.
