Perennial herb, prostrate or decumbent, glabrous or glandular-hairy with type 1 hairs; stems 12–40 (–100) cm long. Leaves: lamina bluntly ovate, 1–4 cm long, succulent; petiole to 2 cm long. Inflorescence axillary, often compound, usually corymb-like; basic inflorescence unit a compact/crowded, many-flowered glomerule; peduncle stout, 3–10 cm long; flowers subsessile. Perianth base sparsely glandular-hairy; upper part (limb) broadly campanulate, c. 2 mm long; lobes short, blunt, usually white, sometimes pink or lilac. Stamens 4, rarely 3 [stamens 2, rarely 3, fide Du Puy & Telford (1993: 105)], c. 1 mm long. Style 2 mm long. Fruit ± fusiform, 3.5–5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, mostly sparsely glandular-hairy, 3–5-ribbed; ribs narrow, acute not mucous; furrows wide, flat. Some populations from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands have consistently smaller leaves, rarely exceeding 1.5 cm long.
Grows mainly on sandy shores of coral islands, in herbfield and openings in strand shrub communities in coralline sand. In the Northern Territory, grows in grasslands, coastal vine thickets, monsoon vine thickets and coastal dunes, in a variety of substrates including, sand, quartzite, limestone, sandstone and laterite (Kerrigan & Dixon 2011: 2).
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