Plant: Low, evergreen shrub, glabrous, with subterranean rhizomes and sometimes adventitious roots on portions of the lower stems Leaves: opposite, simple, serrulate to crenulate (rarely subentire), coriaceous, short-petioled, smooth; stipules small, caducous; crowded, 1-2(-4) pairs per cm; blades ovate to lanceolate (sometimes elliptic or oblanceolate), (6-)8-27(-40) mm long, (3-)4-10(-15) mm wide, glabrous, glossy green above, pale beneath; margins serrulate to crenulate (occasionally entire), often revolute or thickened; apex rounded to obtuse; base acute, rounded, or obtuse; petioles usually 1-2 mm long INFLORESCENCE: axillary cymes of 1-2(-3) flowers Flowers: petals commonly maroon (those from buds of the previous season), occasionally green (those from buds of the current season), ovate, 1.5-2 mm long, longer than the calyx lobes; filaments scarcely 1 mm long; calyx lobes 4, small, imbricate, green, widely ovate; stamens 4, inserted in the edge of a broad nectariferous disk; ovary 2-carpellate, 2-loculed, superior, but sunken into the disk; style short to obsolete; stigma capitate to linear-clavate (rarely obscurely 2-lobed) Fruit: CAPSULES oblong, 4-7 mm long. SEEDS 1 or 2, oblong, erect, enclosed in a membranaceous, white, cleft aril, about 2/3 covered by the aril Misc: Shady places of various forest communities in the mountains; 1450-2950 m (4800-9600 ft); Apr-Jul