Large shrub c.3m high. Shoots often arching, purple when young, scarcely shining above with slightly impressed veins. scarcely shining above with slightly impressed veins. Leaves glaucous below. Fruit 5-7 x 5-6mm, broadly turbinate or elliptic-turbinate, glossy redish-scarlet. Fruiting corymbs tending to hang. Some young shoots dead from the bacterial disease fireblight.