Hoodia is a spiny stem succulent growing in the arid Northwestern, western and southern parts of Namibia. The fleshy, cylindrical stems are armed with many rows of spines. The leaves are absent. Flowers can range from very small (1cm in diameter) to large (15cm in diameter), saucer or bell-shaped and be either yellowish, red to pink or brown. They usually have a distinct carrion- or faeces-like smell. The pods are hornlike and arranged in pairs. The drop-shaped seeds are brown when ripe, and are attached to a tuft of silky-white hairs.