The lamina is smooth and coriaceous, dark green on top and light green underneath, the leaf margins entire or slightly dentate. The venation and young branches are a reddish colour. The hermaphrodite flowers have an ureolate corolla with five short teeth and are white or cream coloured, sometimes pink in the part exposed to the sun. Inside, they have 10 stamen with tomentose filaments and an ovary with 5 loculi and several ovules. The flowering period is from September to March, almost concurrent with the ripening of the fruit formed the previous year.
Pollination is entomophilous, mostly by bees which produce a honey with a distinctive bitter taste.
The fruit is a small 4-8 g berry, varying in shape between flat and globular, sometimes showing a nipple. The skin is orange or reddish, spiked with several small tubercles. The flesh is amber-coloured and rich in sclereids. The number of seeds varies. The fruit is edible and is rich in sugar and vitamin C, but has never been considered, even in ancient times, as particularly good when eaten raw.