Suffruticose herb, usually less than 30 cm tall; stem usually unbranched; most parts with stellate or less frequently hirsute pubescence but the upper blade surface often glabrous. Stipules paired, linear, 6-8 mm long, persistent; petioles 5-15 mm long; blades obovate, acute to acuminate at apex, tapered to a slightly cordate base, 9-18 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, irregularly dentate. Inflorescences usually terminal, short; flowers few, to ca 1.3 cm diam; epicalyx bracteoles 7-11, linear, united at base, to ca 1 cm long; calyx 3-5 mm long, shorter than epicalyx, lobed to middle, the lobes triangular; petals white, +/- obovate, 7-10 mm long, stellate-puberulent outside, spreading at anthesis; staminal tube bearing anthers just below apex; style branches 10, slightly longer than staminal tube, pinkish; stigmas capitate. Fruits to 8 mm long; mericarps 5, prominently 3-ribbed, spiny, the spines 5-7 mm long, 3 per mericarp, retrorsely barbed; seeds trigonous, 4-5 mm long, glabrous. Croat 9254, 10942. Common along trails in the older forest, often forming continuous stands below the escarpment on Zetek Trail; common to rare elsewhere. Flowers from March to November, especially in the early rainy season. The fruits develop rather quickly, and mature fruits may share the same inflorescence with flowers.