Plants 3-10 dm, crisp-pubescent or glabrate. Stems freely branched. Leaves 4-15 × 2-5 cm; blade mostly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, rounded to obliquely subcordate basally, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface glabrate, margins glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs long, twisted, apex acute to abruptly acuminate. Flowers 2-5(-7); perianth cylindrical, truncate basally; tepals muddy to creamy white, oblong-lanceolate, flaring slightly at apex, 15-28 mm; stamens included, 10-23 mm, equal to or slightly shorter than style; filaments filiform or slightly dilated basally; anthers 4-5 mm; ovary ovoid to obovoid, becoming weakly 3-lobed after anthesis, glabrous, ovules 2-4 per locule, pendulous; style 10-23 mm, pubescent; stigma 3-lobed, lobes 0.5-1 mm. Berries yellowish orange to dark red, 3-6-seeded, ovoid to oblong, beaked with persistent style bases, 12-16 mm, smooth. Seeds 4 mm. 2n = 16.

Flowering late spring--early summer. Moist shady forests, coastal mountains; 0--200 m; B.C.; Calif., Oreg., Wash.