Discaria pubescens

Rigid, spreading shrub to c. 1 m high and wide; stems glabrous. Leaves soon deciduous, c. oblong, to 10 mm long, 3 mm wide, obtuse or minutely mucronate within an apical notch, margins minutely toothed, surfaces glabrous or a few hairs present near tip; stipules dark reddish-brown, c. 1 mm long, often shallowly joined around the node, pubescent on inner face; spines stout, 1.5–4 cm long. Flowers white, solitary or in few-flowered axillary cymes, sometimes congested on short apical shoots; pedicels 2–3 mm long; hypanthium c. 1.5 mm long; sepals somewhat spreading, 1–1.5 mm long; petals attached at throat of hypanthium, c. 1 mm long; stamens subequal to and weakly hooded by petals; disc prominent, lining base of hypanthium, obscurely 5-angled; style minute. Capsule prominently 3-lobed, 4–5 mm diam., the valves separating incompletely at maturity and splitting dorsally and medially. Flowers Oct.–Dec.