Deciduous, low, erected bush up to 1 m tall. The bark is smooth, gray, the wood light yellow. Leaf buds sharp, greenish brown. Flower buds obtuse, brown-red, at the edge of scales ciliate. Leaves are simple, deciduous, thin, concentrated more at the ends of branches. The lamina is longish obovate to lanceolate, obtuse, entire, on the margins ciliate, on the underside blue-green. The petiole is short. The flowers are in fascicles, heavily smelling, color violet-pink. The fruit are fleshy drupes, spheroidal to egg-shaped. They are intensively red, rarely yellow. They are poisonous. Stone is reddish brown-colored. Flowers before budbreaking. Shoots: Shoots relatively strong, usually hairy, brown, later grey. Natural range: Europe, Western Asia.