Shrubs erect, 0.25--1 m. Bark gray, cracked and irregularly fissured. Branches alternate or whorled, rigid, angle of divergence about 45°. Twigs blue-green, becoming gray with age, glaucous, with numerous very fine longitudinal grooves; internodes 2--5 cm. Terminal buds conic, less than 4 mm. Leaves in whorls of 3, 2--5 mm, connate to 2/3 their length; bases becoming gray and shredded with age; apex acute. Pollen cones 1--4 at node, ovoid, 6--8 mm, sessile; bracts in 6--9 whorls of 3, cream to pale yellow, ovate, slightly clawed, 2--4 × 2--4 mm, membranous; bracteoles slightly exceeding bracts; sporangiophores 2--4 mm, exserted to 1/2 their length, with 5--8 sessile to short-stalked microsporangia. Seed cones 1--several at node, ovoid, 9--15 mm, sessile; bracts in 5 or 6 whorls of 3, obovate, 6--9 × 6--10 mm, papery, translucent with orange-yellow to greenish yellow center and base, base clawed, margins minutely dentate, undulate. Seeds 1--2(--3), ellipsoid, 7--10 × 1.5--3 mm, light brown to yellowish green, scabrous.
Dry gravelly or sandy plains, hills and canyons, 900-1800 metres in New Mexico. Dry rocky to sandy areas; 500--2000 m.
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