Annual prostrate, woolly canescent herb, root up to 180 mm long, diffused or procumbent branches, 100-322 mm long. Leaves 6-25 x 4-15 mm. oblong-ovate, pinnatilobed, lobes obtuse, 1-3(4) on each side, densely hairy with short or long, simple and branched hairs; bistipulate, stipules minute; petiole 3-8 mm long, densely hairy. Pedicels 3-6 mm long in fruit Receptacle 5.6 mm in diameter with 5-spiny, subulate, bracteoles. Sepals 5, acute, as long as or broader than the alternating bracteoles, connivent above, tube flat, spiny, forming a disc with the mature carpels, the outer teeth triangular, the inner lanceolate. Petals 5, 2-4.3 x 1.4-2 mm, inserted on the throat of the calyx tube, obovate or oblanceolate, greenish-white, distinctly veined, slightly exserting the sepals. Stamens 10, c. 2 mm long, filament slender, glabrous, with broadly ovate anthers, 0.5 x 0.5 mm. Carpels 10, partly connate, each one ovuled; styles longer than stamens, spinescent, sparingly tomentose, accrescent and hard in fruit; stigma minute, capitellate. Fruit dry, plano-orbicular, 8-15 mm in diameter, convex above, flat below, persisting as a collar around the young roots of the seedlings even after the plant is fully grown. Seeds curved about 2.5 x 1.5 mm in size, non endospermic, horn like with tapering distal end; testa dark brown, shiny. 2n=14.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: October-December.

Type: "Habitat in Aegypto Arabia".

Distribution: Mediterranean, N. Africa, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, N. Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and N. W. Indian desert.

A fairly common species of dry regions. particularly on sand dunes. It is considered to be a very strong tonic. Leaves and fruits are used for medicinal purposes. Used as a source of fodder for camel and sheep.