Zygophyllum coccineum is a perennial low shrub or herb, with erect, branched many stems. The leaves are 2-foliolate, bright green, and glabrous with cylindrical leaflets, and broadly triangular, membranous petioles. The flowers are small, with white and spatulate petals; they grow solitary and axillary. The fruit is a cylindrical or obscurely 5-angled, truncate capsule that reaches up to 0.5-1 cm. The seeds are ovate, acute, and tuberculate.