Shrubs, 30–400 cm (stems cluster-ed). Stems spreading to ascending, green to tan, simple proximally, sparingly branched distally, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely hairy, resinous and ± resin-varnished. Leaves present at flowering (abundant, well developed); sessile or petiolate; blades lanceolate-elliptic, slightly falcate (willowlike), 30–150 × 3–20 mm, bases attenuate , margins usually finely serrate from bases to apices, sometimes entire, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, ± resinous. Heads in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches). Involucres hemispheric; staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm. Phyllaries ovate to lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins scarious, erose or irregularly dentate, midribs distinct, medians green or reddish, apices (greenish or brownish purple) obtuse to acuminate (pale and dry, glabrous). Staminate florets (10–)17–48; corollas 4–6 mm. Pistillate florets 50–150; corollas 2–3.5 mm. Cypselae 0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous; pappi 3–6 mm. 2n = 18, 36.
Usually confined to sandy or rocky thickets along stream beds, sometimes on damp plains or in fields, frequently forming wide thickets, from near sea level to elevations of 2,800 metres.
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Stream banks, dry washes, sandy flood plains, riparian woodlands, disturbed sites, ditches; at elevations from 30-2,400 metres.
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