A small woody shrub with rough pimply-textured bark. Its alternately arranged leaves are narrowly oval or elongated and have finely toothed margins. Its bright yellow flowers (2-3 cm across) have five petals, five sepals and numerous stamens. The sepals are initially green, but they turn bright red as the fruit develop. The small fruit (5-8 mm long) turn from green to black as they mature. It is a drought tolerant bush, and a serious environmental weed.