Erect, narrow shrub to 5 m or so tall, 3 m wide, twigs dark red to purplish or black. Leaves sparse, small and pale green to silvery, to 15 mm long, 10 mm wide. Raised by James Stirling, Supervisor of the Government Gds at Wellington, New Zealand, as a seedling selection from seed of a tree growing on the road n of Ruatoria in the e Cape district.