Prostrate or spreading shrub. Leaves evergreen, blade mostly 5-8 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, elliptic to obovate, dark green and shiny above, hairy below with veins prominent. Flowers about 5 mm wide, solitary or few in a flat-topped cluster, anthers dark red to almost black; spring. Fruit orange to red, compressed, spherical, with 2 nutlets.

C. dammeri Schneid from China is a prostrate, spreading shrub rooting at the nodes, with leaves to 3 cm long, obovate to elliptic and veins above slightly indented. Flowers 1-4; late spring to early summer. Fruits about 5 mm wide, few. Syn. C. humifusus Veitch. Some similar plants, possibly hybrids, have 4 nutlets and leaves mostly 1.5-2.5 cm long.

Himalayas. Naturalised on the NSWC Coast.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Rosaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.