Tree or shrub, deciduous, 5 to 15 m tall with a diameter at breast height of up to 1.2 m. Leaves, simple, alternate, shortly petiolate, ovate to lanceolate and serrate margin. Bark brown or grayish almost smooth, except for the tender branches that are sometimes pubescent. Hermaphrodite flowers, numerous, small and white, grouped in axillary racemes hanging and long, 10 to 15 cm. The fruit is a globose drupe about 1 centimeter in diameter, reddish black when ripe, sweet and sour taste and somewhat astringent containing a single seed. The seed is spherical and surrounded by a woody stone (almond) with a bitter taste.