Plants erect shrubs or shrublets, to 2.5 m tall; young stems desnsely silvery pubescent, more or less covered with prominent leaf scars. Leaves:petioles up to 1.5 (-2) cm long;blades 0.7-6 cm long, 0.7-4.5 cm wide, elliptic-ovate to suborbicular, bases rounded, tips obtuse, lower surfaces densely silvery pubescent, upper surfaces sparasely pubescent to glabrous. Flowers solitary or few together, on short shoots, subsessile; bracts 3-9 mm long, linear-lanceolate; sepals 6-10 mm long, linear-lanceolate, silvery pubescent; corollas mauve or pale violet with a darker center, 2.5-4.5 cm long, funnel-shaped, pilose over mid-petalline areas. Capsules 7-11 mm long, ovoid to subglobose, usually glabrous, rarely appressed pubescent. Seeds ovoid, about 6 mm long, desnsely covered with yellowish hairs 8-10 mm long.
Ipomoea cicatrosa grows in Acacia-Commiphora bushland, evergreen bushland, on rocky slopes and semidesert plains at elevations of 100-1680m in all regions of Somaliland and Somalia (regions as used in the Flora of Somalia). Plants from N3 (northern Puntland) are often shorter than 50 cm and have small leaves and, often, hairy capsules.