Erect, clonal herb or subshrub to 50 cm, male or bisexual, pale green, the leaves densely pubescent with stellate hairs; prickles to 8 mm long, abundant on all parts. Leaves lanceolate; lamina 5–11 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, concolorous, deeply lobed, the lobes oblong to broadly triangular; petiole 5–15 mm long. Male plant: inflorescence many-flowered; rachis 3–12 cm long, pedicels 5 mm long; calyx 4–7 mm long, the lobes triangular, 1–3 mm long; corolla broadly stellate, 20–25 mm diam., purple; anthers 4–5 mm long. Female plant: flowers solitary; pedicels short; calyx 9–12 mm long, enlarged in fruit, the lobes linear, unequal, 2–5 mm long; corolla broadly stellate, 20 mm diam., purple; anthers c. 4 mm long. Berry globular, c. 2 cm diam., drying black. Seeds 1–2 mm long, brownish-black.
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