Herbs, erect, simple or sparingly branched, 1.5-4(-10) dm, white scurfy. Stems aging red, terete or obscurely angled, brittle. Leaves alternate or proximalmost opposite; blade lanceolate to ovate, 6-20 × 4-8 mm, base rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate, gray scurfy. Staminate flowers in small axillary dense glomerules, 4-merous. Pistillate flowers solitary or in small axillary clusters, below or mixed with staminate. Fruiting bracteoles sessile, rhombic-ovate, acute or acuminate, 2.5-3.5 × 2.2-3 mm, united to middle, thin margin toothed, faces plane, scurfy. Seeds dark brown, 1-1.2 mm.

Flowering summer-fall. Alkaline plains, edges of alkali sink; of conservation concern; 90-200 m; Calif.