Copiously armed annual herbs, pubescent with glandular, multicellular, simple and stellate hairs; prickles yellow or orange-yellow, awl-shaped 1.5 mm long; stems pubescent and prickly. Leaves pinnatifid to pinnatisect, oblong or ovate, 4.5-10(-14) cm long, 2.5-5(-8) cm wide, the lobes sinuate or angular, pointed, apically acute, stellate-pubescent, sometimes shaggy, often prickly along main veins; petiole 1.5-4 cm long. Inflorescences axillary or extra-axillary scorpioid racemes; peduncle branched or not; pedicel 5-10 mm long. Flowers with calyx cupular,1 cm long, lobes ovate-lanceolate, 2 mm long, pubescent and prickly; corolla purplish or white, stellate, 16-35 mm long, the lobes ovate, 4-8 mm long, sparsely hairy; filaments 1 mm, glabrous, anthers lanceolate, 9 mm long; ovary puberulent. Berry bright red, subglobose, 1-2 cm across; fruiting pedicel 1-1.5 cm, stout; fruiting calyx accrescent, longer than the fruit, densely prickly and enveloping most of the berry, ultimately flaring wide and exposing it; seeds reniform, 2-2.5 mm across.
TAITUNG: Chihpen, Wang et al. 1617.
Native of South America, naturalized in North America, Africa, Australia, and on the mainland of China. Taiwan, a rarely collected weed.
