Plants shrubs up to 2(-3) m tall; young branches whitish, somewhat pbescent or glabrous. Leaves petiolate; petioles 1-5(-10)mm long, pubescent; blades elliptic to ovate or suborbiculate, 0.4-2)-3.5) cm long, 0.3-1.5 (-2.2) cm wide, glabrus to puberulous, teritay venatioin obscure, margins enire to crenate, tips obtuse to subobtuse. Inflorescences pedunculate; peduncles 0.4-3 cm long; 1-4(-6) cm long; pedicels 1-3.5 mm long; bracts up to 2 mm long. Calyces glandular; tubes about 1.5-2 mm long; lobes 0.5-1.5 mm long; corollas greenish yellow, cream, or white; corolla tubes 2-3 mm long, glandular outside, hairy at the throat; lobes 2.2-3 mm long, puberulous outside. Fruits red when ripe, about 5-6.5 mm in diameter.
Premna resinosa grows in deciduous bushland on sand or limestone at 40-1100 m. It is known from regions N1-2, C1, and S1-3 of the Flora of Somalia and from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and on the Arabian peninsula.
The species is used medicinally and the fruits are edible and its charred wood is used to give a good odour to milk continers.
