A hispid, annual herb with branched, erect or ascending stems. Indumentum is heterotrichous, of hirsute tubercle-based setae and an under layer of uniformly deflexed hairs. Basal leaves are oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse and attenuate at the base; cauline leaves are linear-lanceolate and sessile. Inflorescence is composed of terminal and axillary cymes. Flowers are bracteate and short-pedicellate, and the corolla is infundibular, red, drying pink or purple and hairy outside. Fruit is an ovoid-tetraquetrous nutlet, aculeate, slightly tuberculate and brownish.
Nile region and Egyptian desert.
Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia.
Sandy desert plains, fields, edges of cultivation.
Annual.
