Appearance
This plant is a spiny succulent shrub, with thick water-storing stems and leaves that are deciduous in the long dry season. Although strikingly similar in appearance, it is not closely related to the ocotillo, ''Fouquieria splendens'' of the Sonoran Deserts in North America.Young alluaudias form a tangle of stems that last for several years, after which a strong central stem develops. The basal stems then die out, leaving a tree-like stem that branches higher up on the main trunk.
Like other members of family Didiereaceae, the leaves of ''Alluaudia'', produced from brachyblasts similar to the areoles found in cacti, are small, appear single and are accompanied with conical spines. Its flowers are unisexual and radially symmetric.
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