It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit,[2] as has the cultivar 'Variegatum'.

[3] A. haworthii is native to the Canary Islands and northern Africa, but it has been introduced to other areas of similar climate, such as Southern California.

[7] It is a sand-dwelling beach plant, a subshrub with rough, woody stems and rosettes of thick, red-edged green leaves which are triangular or diamond- or spade-shaped.

[4] It grows as a densely branched small shrub and reaches stature heights of up to 60 centimeters.

The almost bare, somewhat mesh-like, ascending or hanging, winding shoots have a diameter of 3 to 6 millimeters.