Duma horrida subsp. horrida

Stiff, divaricately branched, but rather open shrub to c. 1 m high and wide (but usually much less), stems greyish-brown, commonly partly leafless, often spine-tipped. Leaves produced in tufts on short lateral shoots, sessile, linear, 1–5 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, thickish, margins recurved to revolute, the midvein often apparently impressed on the lower surface. Flowers sessile in axillary or nodal clusters; perianth segments 2–3 mm long, fused in lower c. one-third in males, in lower half to two-thirds in females, cream or yellowish, sometimes reddish-tinged, female flowers becoming more or less turbinate in fruit, with segments prominently thickened about the middle. Nut broadly ovoid, 2–2.5 mm long, obscurely trigonous, smooth, brown. Flowers mainly Sep.–Nov.