Prostrate or erect shrub, 10-30(-50) cm tall, apparently dioecious;  branches subterete, puberulent and strigose with reddish, straight, eglandular hairs ca. 1.5 mm long.  Leaves subcoriaceous, ovate, ovate-elliptic, ovate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, (2.5-)4-10 x (2-)2.5-6 mm, base rounded or cuneate-attenuate, apex acute to acuminate with  midrib extended into a short, persistent, achlorophyllous mucro, 0.7-1 mm long, margin inconspicuously revolute and thickened, subserrate-crenulate with 4-9 teeth per side, these each bristle-tipped with caducous, gland-tipped hairs to 0.4 mm long, glabrous or with a few appressed setae at base of midrib beneath, nitid above;  midrib plane or slightly impressed above and raised and prominent beneath, secondary  veins usually obscure;  petiole 0.5-1(-2) mm long, glabrous.  Flowers with pedicels 3-4(-7) mm long in anthesis lengthening to 7(-11) mm long in fruit, puberulent and short-setose with ferruginous, eglandular, multicellular, crisped hairs;  floral bracts and bracteoles 4-5, indistinguishable, basal or scattered along length of pedicel, bracts ovate, 1.5-2.3 mm long, acuminate, glabrous;  calyx glabrous, lobes subovate or triangular, 1.3-2.2(-2.6) mm long, acuminate;  corolla cylindric-urceolate, 3-4.5(-5) mm long, 2.5 mm in diam., white, lobes 1-1.5 mm long;  stamens (8-)10, 1.6-2.4 mm long;  filaments glabrous, ca. l mm long;  ovary depressed-globose, glabrous, style 1.2-1.5 mm long, glabrous.  Berry globose, 4-5(-6) mm in diam., white or often pinkish (red?) when mature.

     Distribution (Map).  Endemic to the Galápagos Islands, where it is only known from Isabela and Santa Cruz (Indefatigable Isl.).  Found on mountain slopes, in grassy areas, wet depressions, Sphagnum bogs, ridges and bases of cliffs, at elevations of 650-1040 m.  Flowering Feb-Jun and Sep-Oct; fruiting Feb-Jun.

    Cultivated:  E.