Erect, coarse, hard, spinous, greyish green, woody shrubs ±1 m high, glabrous. Rhizome compact, bearing thick, long, cylindrical, woody roots. Stems hard, dark, straight, up to 12 mm in diameter, bearing many ascending, woody branches, on which the sharp spines (deformed branchlets) are placed, ±15-30 mm apart. Spines hooked, ±5-10 mm long, flattened, knobbed and swollen at the base, occasionally with short lateral spinules. Nodes many-budded, flanking spine, giving rise to short nonspinous, deciduous branchlets, bearing cladodes and flowers. Cladodes 25-76 mm a fascicle, terete, similar to branchlet in shape but smaller (viz. one node), 5-10 mm long, apiculate. Fertile branchlets bearing paired flowers widely spaced, alternating with cladode fascicles. Tepals oblong, acute below and above, ±0.4 mm long, the outer narrower, dentate above, becoming erect, enclosing the stamens and gynoecium, white; stalk short, apex discoid. Stamens short with broad, flat filaments, anthers yellow. Ovary oblong-globose; the 3 styles loosely fused, curved outward above, apex stigmatic, obtuse; 6-10 ovules in each locule. Fruit a nutlet, containg one smooth, black, globose seed enclosed by the dry, hard, persistent prianth. Flowering in November, with fruits in January.
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Erect, spiny shrub, up to 1 m high. Stems hard, dark, straight, with many ascending branches. Spines sharp, hooked, flattened, swollen at base, 5-10 mm long. Cladodes 1-3 per fascicle, terete, apiculate, 5-10 mm long. Flowers paired, widely spaced, alternating with cladode fascicles; stamens with yellow anthers; pedicels short, articulated below flower. Flowering time Nov. Fruit a nutlet.
Erect, spiny shrub, ± 1 m tall, stems and branches dark grey, with hooked spines along their length and straight spines apically. Cladodes 1-3 in fascicles, terete. Flowers paired in axils, tepals and filaments spreading.
Erect spiny shrub, stems dark, bearing hooked spines. Cladodes 1-3 in fascicles, terete. Flowers paired in axils, tepals and filaments spreading.
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