Acanthosicyos horridus Welw. ex Benth. & Hook.F.

Shrubby, 0.5-1 m tall, forming dense and large bushes on small dunes which the plant builds up itself. Rootstock woody. Stems robust, terete, pale yellowish or glaucous to greyish green, sulcate; twigs subvirgate, pubescent in the youngest parts, the floriferous ones subtomentose. Spines terete, straight or nearly so, 2-3 cm long, glabrous. Male flowers greyish-tomentose outside; sepals ovate to suborbicular-obcordate, 4-6 mm long; petals furfuraceous inside, 10-12 mm long, pale yellow. Female flowers: peduncle in fruit incrassate, ultimately attaining a length of about 1 cm; staminodes erect, linear, dilated near the apex, 5-7 mm long; ovary 15-17 mm long, densely covered with puberulous oblong-conical soft 2-2.5 mm long spines; style 9-10 mm long, stigma 6-7 mm wide. Fruit pale orange-yellow when ripe, with orange-yellow pulp, up to about 20 cm in diam. Seeds nearly white, sub-obliquely truncate near the base, 14-15 mm long, 9-11 mm wide, 6-7 mm thick.

It is a tropical plant. It grows on sand in the Namib desert. It can survive in a hot arid, desert climate. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall of 150 mm. It can survive during years without rainfall. It grows in areas with temperatures between 16°C and 21°C. It can grow in very poor soils. It can grow in salty soils. It grows between 25-150 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places.

The fruit are eaten fresh or preserved. The fruits are buried to soften, then peeled and boiled and the pulp allowed to thicken and then dried in the sun. It is then eaten or added to porridge. The seeds are eaten roasted or boiled. They are also stored for later use. The seeds also yield an edible oil. The pulp of the fruit is used to separate casein from milk after it is heated.

Plants grow from seeds. Seeds germinate easily. It usually does not do well in cultivation. Wild plants are "owned" and harvested. The seeds are separated from the fruit pulp by rubbing in the sand.