Lycium horridum is a shrub in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) indigenous to South Africa as well as southern Namibia and Botswana.

[2] Lycium horridum is a rigid shrub, with stout thorns that gradually become shorter towards the tips of the stems.

The young stems are initially green and soft, before hardening and becoming white (usually with dark streaks).

The corolla is small, white and tubular, with five (sometimes four) spreading lobes (petals) that are much shorter than the tube.

The calyx is tubular (about twice as long as wide) and, due to its shorter length, covers less than half of the corolla tube.