Stout succulent spiny shrub to 2 m or small tree to 3.5 m high.Branches whorled, spreading-ascending, rebranching, acutely 4–5-angled, 2–5 cm in diameter, constricted into segments to 40 cm long; angles sinuate, with tubercles 1–2 cm apart along the margins.Spine shields joined in a whitish horny margin 0.5–2 mm wide; spines 3–7(15) mm long, diverging; prickles minute.Leaves c. 6–10 × 1.6–2.5 cm, narrowly obovate, subsessile, persistent for several months.Cymes solitary, 1–2-forked, peduncle and cyme branches c. 3 mm long; bracts c. 3 mm long, ovate.Cyathia with involucres 3.5–4 × 5–6 mm, funnel-shaped; glands 2–3 mm wide, transversely elliptic, greenish-yellow; lobes c. 2.25 mm long, broadly elliptic, fimbriate.Male flowers 20–25(45): bracteoles c. 3 mm long, fimbriate; pedicels and filaments each c. 2.5 mm long.Female flower: perianth 3-lobed, c. 2 mm in diameter; styles c. 2.5 mm long, spreading, recurved with bifid apices.Capsule to 4 × 7 mm, obtusely lobed, subtruncate, exserted on a recurved pedicel c. 7 mm long.Seeds c. 2.5 × 2 mm, subglobose, smooth, pale brown with irregular blotches.
