Plants climbing vines, to 5 m long; branches glabrous, pale brown to greyish, smooth, shiny; spines on main branches up to 4 cm long, dorsally flattened towards the base. Cladodes clustered, 3-5 together, subulate, 10-18(-27) mm long, about 0.5 mm wide. Inflorescences simple racemes 1.5-4 cm long, glabrous; pedicels solitary or paired, 2-5 cm long. Tepals 2-3 mm long, elliptic, white to cream; stamens shorter that the tepals; anthers yellow; ovaries obovate, with 6-8 ovules per cell; styles about 0.5 mm long, branched. Berries red at maturity, about 5 mm in diameter, 1-2 seeded.
Asparagus buchananii grows in Acacia scrub near sea level. It grows in Sudan, southern Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya. The identification of the specimen from Hargeisa, Somaliland, needs verification.