Perennial, compact subshrub, 7-10 cm tall with very short internodes. Leaves sessile, base petiole-like with spines 3-7 mm long; lamina oblanceolate, (25-)35-50(-70) x 5-10(-12) mm, strigose with short, white hairs, also with subsessile glandular hairs; apex acute, base attenuate, margin undulate, dentate-spinose, spines rigid, 3-6 mm long, yellow to brown. Inflorescences semi-dense, cylindrical, subsessile, 45-50(-70) mm long, 8-10(-12) mm in diameter. Bracts obovate to broadly obovate, (15-19)-24 mm long (including spines), lamina 10-11 mm long, base obtuse; lower bracts hirsute with deflexed to spreading short, white hairs, middle to upper bracts hirsute with spreading short, white hairs, together with glandular hairs abaxially, silky-hairy, also with short, white hairs and glandular hairs adaxially; middle and upper bracts ending in 5 primary spines; central primary spine usually to nearly always simple, if compound, then with 1 pair of short marginal spines (prickles); lateral primary spines nearly always simple; spines spreading to recurved in fruit. Bracteoles linear, 7-8(-11) mm long, silky-hairy with some isolated glandular hairs. Calyx with dorsal sepal ovate, acuminate, 13-14(-16) mm long, silky-hairy with some isolated glandular hairs abaxially, silky-hairy adaxially, 7-9-veined; ventral sepal ovate, 12-14 mm long, silky-hairy with some isolated glandular hairs abaxially, silky-hairy adaxially, 5-7-veined; lateral sepals 9 mm long, with some isolated glandular hairs abaxially, silky-hairy adaxially. Corolla lilac to purple with lemon-yellow throat, 28-32 x 10-11 mm, tube 9-10 mm long, central lobe as wide as long, truncate to rounded. Filaments 7-8 mm long, glandular; anthers orange-brown, 3-4 mm long. Style with patch of glandular hairs at the base. Capsules 6-8 x 3-4 mm. Seed 5 x 3-4 mm.
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