Herbs annual, or subshrubs. Branchlets yellow-brown tomentose. Stipule narrowly triangular; petiole 1-7.5 cm, sparsely simple-pilose; leaf blade ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 5-13 × 3-7 cm, papery, sparsely pilose, both surfaces simple-pilose, basal veins 3-5, 2 lateral ones ascending beyond 1/2 blade, base rounded or subcordate, margin serrate, apex caudate or acuminate. Peduncle very short. Pedicel 3-6 mm, villous. Bracts 2-3 mm, villous. Flower bud nearly glabrous. Sepals ca. 5 mm, tips appendaged. Petals oblanceolate, slightly shorter than sepals. Stamens 10. Ovary 3- or 4-loculed, spiny; style very short; stigma 2-3-lobed. Capsule impressed globose, ca. 6 mm in diam., spiny, dehiscent, 3- or 4-valved; spines 3-7 mm, glabrous or hairy at base, tip hooked. Fl. autumn.

Triumfetta annua was incorrectly named as T. suffruticosa Blume by some authors, including Merrill; it has also been confused with T. japonica Makino, which is restricted to Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

Open areas, roadsides. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan; Africa].