An unarmed shrub of broom-like habit 3 to 6 ft high, with green, glabrous, angled branches, leafless in the hot season. Leaves linear-lanceolate, up to 15⁄8 in. long, 1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in. wide, shortly stalked. Flowers solitary, sessile, borne in spring, each from a bud with numerous brown imbricating scales, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. wide, white or pinkish; receptacle partly concealed by the bud-scales, broad campanulate, glabrous or almost so. Ovary densely hairy. Fruits ovoid, slightly flattened, about 1 in. long; stone smooth.
P. arabica is an almond of unusual habit, occurring in dry steppe and open oak woodland from S. and E. Anatolia to Persia. As in many plants of arid regions, its stems have to a large extent taken over the function of photosynthesis.
P. scoparia (Spach) Schneid. Amygdalus scoparia Spach – Closely allied to the preceding, but taller and sometimes a tree up to 20 ft high, with terete, not angled stems, and flowers up to 1 in. wide. It occupies similar habitats but is confined to Iran.