Leaf blades fleshy. Petals sometimes aborted or reduced to bristles early. Fruits 4-angled, 12-24 × 5-9 mm; terminal segment turbinate, apex usually acute or blunt, rarely retuse, relatively short. 2n = 18.

Flowering Jun-Nov. Sandy beaches; ca. 0 m; B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., P.E.I., Que.; Alaska, Calif., Conn., Del., Ill., Ind., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Oreg., R.I., Va., Wash., Wis.; introduced in e Asia (Japan), Australia.

Variety edentula is introduced and naturalized on the Pacific Coast of North America, Japan (Y. Asai 1982, 1996) and Australia (M. G. Barbour and J. E. Rodman 1970; Rodman 1986), and sporadic on beaches of the Great Lakes, where it is likely introduced (Rodman 1974); it hybridizes with subsp. harperi on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Rodman 1980).