Plants 1.5-3 cm tall. Stem richly branched. Leaves subsessile or shortly petiolate; stipules lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, membranous, margin dentate, apex acute; petiole (if present) ca. 1 mm; leaf blade spatulate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, 2-5 × ca. 0.7 mm, margin entire, apex subacute. Flowers axillary, solitary; pedicel conspicuous, curved downward at fruiting stage, 1.5-2.5 mm. Calyx 3-fid; lobes oblong-ovate or broadly lanceolate, ca. 0.5 × 0.3 mm, apex obtuse. Petals 3, reddish, long elliptic, elliptic, or ovate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.5 mm, 2-3 × as long as sepals. Stamens 3, shorter than petals. Ovary obovoid, 3-loculed; styles 3. Capsule cylindric-ovoid, 3-septicidal. Seeds nearly straight or slightly curved, ca. 0.5 mm, reticulate-striate.
Herbs, submersed, 1.5–4(–8) cm. Stems prostrate or erect, branched. Leaves green; stipules lanceolate, 1 mm, margins dentate, apex acute; petiole 0.1–1 mm; blade lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, 2–6 × 0.5–1.5 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse to acute. Pedicels 0.5–2.5 mm, recurved in fruit. Flowers: sepals 3, equal, oblong-ovate or broadly lanceolate, 0.5 × 0.3 mm; petals 0 or 3, reddish, long-elliptic or ovate, 1–1.5 × 0.5 mm; stamens 3; styles 3. Capsules oblong-ovoid, 3-locular, 1 mm diam. Seeds 10 per locule, narrowly oblong, straight or curved 15–30°, 0.3 × 0.1 mm; pits obscure, round, length 1–4 times width, in 6 rows, 19–25(–30) per row.
A tender, creeping herb very similar to E. triandra but the petioles sometimes reach 2 mm. long and the slender pedicels occasionally reach 5 mm. long in fruit. In floral structure the two species are remarkably alike.
Leaves 2½-5 mm long. Pedicels distinct, ½-1½ mm. Stamens shorter than the sepals. Otherwise quite like E. triandra and probably only a temporarily terrestrial form of it.