Spiny succulent dwarf perennial with a large woody tuberous root.Stem subterranean, much reduced, merging imperceptibly with the root, 1–2 cm thick, branching at the apex below ground and producing numerous branches to form large clumps up to 1 m in diameter.Branches crowded, rebranched at the base below ground level, simple, erect, 7–11.5 cm long, 3-angled, c. 5 mm in diameter; angles with prominent tubercles to 2 mm high and 8–25 mm apart along the margins.Spine shields crowning the tubercles, 2–2.5 mm long, ± triangular; spines 3–4 mm long, widely divergent, with expanded bases; prickles minute or absent.Leaves to 2.25 × 1 mm, ovate, sessile, deciduous.Cymes solitary, 1(2)-forked, subsessile; bracts c. 3 × 2.25 mm, broadly ovate.Cyathia 2.5–3 × 6–7 mm, broadly obconic; glands c. 3 mm wide, transversely elliptic, touching, yellow; lobes c. 1.5 × 2 mm, fan-shaped, fimbriate.Male flowers c. 35: bracteoles c. 3 mm long, narrowly cuneate, fimbriate; stamens c. 5.5 mm long.Female flower: styles immature, c. 1.5 mm long, free almost to the base.Capsule and seeds not seen.
