Low evergreen shrubs with narrow nearly sessile leaves jointed to short pulvini, channelled on the lower side by the revolute margins and small monœcious, diœcious or rarely polygamous flowers; sepals, petals, and stamens each 3, fruit a black, berry-like drupe.
Smooth or the young shoots hairy, usually much branched, the branches diffusely spreading, 2—10 inches long. Leaves crowded, dark green, linear-oblong, thick and obtuse, about ¼ of an inch long with strongly revolute, roughish margins. Flowers very small, purplish; stamens exserted; berry nearly ¼ of an inch in diameter, black.
Frequent throughout the Rockies in damp woods, especially those of the “Jack Pine” where it frequently forms a considerable part of the forest floor, in dense, close mats.