Plants erect to scandent shrubs up to 2 m tall; branches glabrous, terete, smooth or lines, with down-curved spines 1-3 mm long, the terminal branches also with down-curved spines. Cldodes clustered, 2-25(-35) together, flexible, straight or bent, 15-26 mm long, flattened on the uppser side. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, of clusters of (2-)3-6 pedicellate flowers; bracts ovte, about 1 mm long, membranous; pedicels 5-8 mm long, articulated at the middle or below. Tepals white, about 3 mm long; stamens shorter than the tepals; anthers yellow; ovaries with 5 ovules per cell; styles about 1 mm long, 3-branched. Berries red, 4-5 mm in diameter, with 1 seed.
Asparagus scaberulus grows in Acacia or Acacia-Commiphora bushland at 240-770. It is known from regions N1 and S1 of the Flora of Somalia and from Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Tanzania. It differs from A. buchananii in its inflorescence structure, inflorescences of A. buchananii being simple racemes 1.5-4 cm long.