An upright, arching or scrambling shrubby plant that usually forms dense thickets its stems are armed with prickles and become woody with age its compound leaves have three or five spreading leaflets and are borne on prickly stalks these leaflets are usually egg-shaped in outline or oval in shape with variously toothed margins. Its white or pale pink flowers have five petals, five sepals, and numerous stamens. Its fleshy fruit (10-30 mm across) turn red as they begin to mature and then glossy black when fully ripe.