Spiny succulent dwarf shrublet, with a short stem merging into a fleshy tuberous root, with numerous branches forming a compact clump.Branches 10–15 cm long, up to c. 1 cm in diameter, ± terete, greyish green, often pale-striped; tubercles in 4 series, prominent, c. 1 cm apart.Spine shields c. 6.5 × 3 mm, obovate, decurrent to ± halfway to the flowering eye below, greyish brown; spines 3–6 mm long, widely diverging; prickles rudimentary or up to 0.5 mm long, c. 1 mm above the spines.Leaves 1 × 1 mm, deltoid, deciduous.Cymes solitary, simple or sometimes 2-forked, subsessile; bracts c. 1.25 × 1.25 mm, subquadrate.Cyathia 3 × 3 mm, with funnel-shaped involucres; glands c. 1.5 mm wide, transversely elliptic, green becoming brownish; lobes c. 1 mm wide, subquadrate, denticulate.Male flowers: bracteoles c. 1.25 mm long, fimbriate; stamens 3 mm long.Female flower: styles 2 mm long, joined at the base, spreading at the apex, bifid.Capsule acutely lobed, c. 3 × 4 mm, subsessile.Seeds not seen.
