Shrubs or small trees , to 8 m; trunks to 30 cm; crowns narrow. Bark light gray, furrowed, warty. Branches without thorns, upright to spreading, irregular. Leaves: petiole 6-10 mm. Leaf blade ovate to occasionally ovate-elliptic, (2-)5-8 × (1-)3-4 cm, base unequal, 1 side rounded, margins mostly entire, serrate and sparingly toothed toward apex, apex blunt, acute, or short-acuminate; surfaces abaxially gray-green, harshly pubescent, adaxially dark gray-green, scabrous. Inflorescences: flowers solitary or few-flowered clusters. Drupes orange to brown or cherry red, glaucous, orbicular, 5-8 mm diam., beakless; pedicel 3-13 mm. Stones cream colored, 5-7 × 5-6 mm, reticulate. Flowers spring (Apr-May). On slopes and along streams in open woods; 0-500 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.