Spiny succulent sparsely branched untidy shrub, c. 1 m high.Branches spreading, sometimes scrambling, usually bent and often twisted, (4)5(7–11)-angled, sometimes constricted into segments to 30 cm long, 2.5–3 cm in diameter; angles acute, with prominent tubercles 8–20 mm apart along the margins.Spine shields 4–9 × 3 mm, obovate, separate; spines 3–10 mm long, narrowly divergent, carmine when young becoming grey; prickles 1–3 mm long.Leaves sessile, fleshy, 8–22 × 7–12 mm, ovate.Cymes solitary, simple, subsessile; branches 1–1.5 mm long; bracts 1.5 × 1.5 mm, subquadrate.Cyathia c. 3.5 × 5 mm, with obconic involucres; glands spreading, transversely oblong, 2.5 mm wide, touching, greenish-yellow, outer margin pinkish; lobes c. 1 × 1.25 mm, transversely elliptic, fimbriate, pale green, speckled red.Male flowers: fascicular bracts broadly flabellate, fimbriate, and bracteoles narrow, c. 3 mm long, laciniate; stamens c. 4.5 mm long.Female flower: styles to 2 mm long, free to the base, spreading recurved, stigmas capitate.Capsule red-brown, c. 3.5 × 4 mm, subglobose, pedicel 1 mm long.Seed ellipsoid, 2.5 × 1.75 mm, verrucose.
