Erect, robust, annual herb to undershrub, with spreading branches from the base, yellow latex, sharp prickles; leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, irregularly lobed; sinuate-pinnatifid, variegated (green and white), spiny on margins and on veins beneath, glaucous above, lower leaves shortly petioled, upper sessile, amplexicaulate; flowers terminal, solitary, shortly pedicelled; bracts leafy; sepals 3 (rarely 2), caducous, oblong, apex horned; petals 6 (rarely 4), deciduous, obovate, bright yellow; stamens many, free; carpels 4-7; syncarpous, unilocular, superior ovary, ovules many in parietal placentation, style short or absent, stigma red, subsessile, discoid, 4-7 lobed; capsules short, oblong, ellipsoid, 4-7 valved, spiny, dehiscing at the top by short valves, alternating with stigmas and placentae; seeds many, reticulately ribbed.