Large shrub to small tree, up to 4 m tall, with distinct trunks and a much-branched habit. Green stems are tangled and bear short, recurved spiny stipules. This species is typically deciduous, shedding its leaves in response to climatic conditions, and often appears leafless or sparsely foliated with linear-oblong leaves (1–2 cm long). Flowers are orange-red with red-veined petals and orange to brick-colored petaloid sepals, floccose on the outer surface and forming a hood-like structure. The fruit is subglobular, pubescent, and long-stipitate, turning from green to yellow or scarlet red at maturity (ca. 1 cm in diameter), and contains few to many hard seeds.