Herbs, erect or decumbent, 0.5-6 dm; branches terete, fructiferous almost to base, scurfy when young. Leaves alternate, subsessile or proximal short petiolate; blade ascending, oblong, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate to elliptic, 5-40 × 2-10 mm, thin, base acute to obtuse, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Flowers of both sexes in small axillary glomerules, 5-merous. Fruiting bracteoles almost sessile, broadly cuneate, 2-5 × (2-)2.5-5 mm, united to summit, truncate at summit, sides smooth or obscurely tuberculate. Seeds light brown to amber, 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 36.
Alkaline flats, especially in grassland in California. Alkaline sink scrub, dry lake beds, growing with Atriplex polycarpa and other salt desert shrubs and forbs; at elevations from 50-500 metres.
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