This species is a shrubby succulent threatened with extinction in its native Tanzania due to habitat loss. The reddish stems become covered in papery scaly bark as they age, covered in spines in clusters of three. The thick leaves are crinkly, with white veins and edged with red. In midwinter it produces nodding greenish-white blooms that grow in pairs at the tips of the shoots. It needs full sun and dry moisture conditions. This succulent is one of about 2,000 species in the euphorbia family, many of which are succulents in Old World tropics and deserts. A characteristic of euphorbias is milky sap in the leaves.