Shrub or subshrub up to 1(1.5) m in height, strongly spiny, hermaphrodite, highly branched and sometimes intricate, with erect stems, only slightly foliose. Stems and old branches with brown bark, fissured longitudinally, turning glabrous. Young branchlets glaucous, striated longitudinally, with 8-10 semicylindrical ribs, somewhat hairy at first. Spines divaricate, usually simple, rarely tricuspid. Leaves alternate, unifoliolate, stipulate \u2014stipular organ with 2 spines up to 2 mm\u2014, subsessile, with leaf blade 1.5-9 \u00d7 1-3.5 mm; leaves of the macroblasts linear-lanceolate, with a spinescent apex, and on the brachyblasts obovate, retuse and muticous; all attenuated at the base, green and glabrescent on both sides. Inflorescences racemiform, pauciflorous, born on stipular organs or on short stems of the previous year, with (1)2-3 pedicellate flowers, with pedicel up to 4.5 mm, glabrescent. Calyx 3-6 mm, glabrescent \u2014ciliate margin\u2014, split into 2 lips usually subequal and smaller than the tube, the upper lip bipartite into 2 triangular segments, and the lower lip trifid or tridentate. Corolla 9-12 mm, papilionoid, yellow, with standard obovate, emarginate, glabrous, subequal or somewhat longer than the wings and the keel. Androecium monadelphous, with 10 stamens. Ovary glabrous, stigma elliptical and introrse. Pod (10)15-35 \u00d7 3.5-4.5 mm, linear-oblong, compressed, green at first turning brown-blackish, glabrous, with 1-7 seeds. Seeds 2-3 mm, ovoid-subglobose, smooth, brownish or greenish-brown, with no aril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12300","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n