Anchusa spinocarpos Forsskål, Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 41. 1775; Echinospermum spinocarpos (Forsskål) Boissier; E. vahlianum Lehmann; Sclerocaryopsis spinocarpos (Fors-skål) Brand.

Herbs annual. Stems erect, frequently branched from base or above middle, 3-12 cm tall, densely short appressed white pubescent; branches ascending. Basal leaves grayish green, spatulate-linear, to 3 cm × 4 mm, strigose, hairs discoid at base, base attenuate, apex obtuse; stem leaves smaller. Pedicel short, stout. Calyx lobes 3-4 mm, to 5-6 mm in fruit, minutely hispid. Corolla blue-purple, 3-4 mm; limb appendaged below throat. Gynobase subulate, surpassing nutlets by ca. 1.5 mm. Style short, exceeding gynobase. Nutlets gray-white, ovoid, 3.5-4 mm, pericarp firm, shiny; adaxially coherent to gynobase by entire rib, not easily separated; disc expanded at base, lower part with a few rudimentary glochids. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

Marshes, Anabasis and Nanophyton thickets, occasionally mountain terraces. Xinjiang (Zhungeer Basin) [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uz-bekistan; N Africa, SW and W Asia, E Europe].