Short-lived annual or perennial herb, of up to 1 m in height. Young pubescent or glabrous stems, recurved hairs. Single or unevenly paired leaves, ovate to lanceolate; acute or acuminate apex, obtuse or narrow base, subenteric or sinuate-dentate.Subumbellate racemes, with up to 10 flowers; white corolla, rarely bluish. The fruit is a globular, glabrous berry, shiny black when ripe, with small seeds.

Small or medium-sized tree,6-30 m high, glabrous.  Leaves alternate, compound; leaflets 8-15 subcoriaceous, oblong, round at the apex, cuneate at the base, green on the upper side, pale or glaucous on the underside.  Panicles very ramified; flowers numerous, whitish, densely clustered on branches.  Drupe oval to oblong-oval, bright red, black when ripe, with thin white pulp.

Erect subshrub, with ascending branches, puberulent stems with tiny stellate trichomes. Alternate leaves, varying from rhombic-oblong to ovate cuneate or oblanceolate, obtuse to rounded or subacute at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the base. Single pedicels in the axils and more or less scattered along the stem; yellow or yellow-orange corolla. Fruits glabrous, carpels without thorns or with one or two; seeds, brown in colour,
glabrous, except for the hilum.