Plants perennial, mat-forming. Taproots thickened, woody; crown, many-branched, woody; rhizomes and trailing stems to 60 cm. Stems ascending to erect, ± green, 2-20 cm, densely glandular-hairy throughout, internodes of flowering stems 0.2-2 times as long as leaves. Leaves tightly appressed to spreading, ± evenly spaced, connate proximally, with ± loose, scarious sheath 0.1-0.7 mm; blade straight to recurved, ± green, flat, prominently 1-veined abaxially, broadly lanceolate to linear, 5-20 × 0.5-1.5 mm, ± rigid, margins rounded, scarious in proximal 3-4, apex green to purple, acute to acuminate or spinescent, navicular with small mucro or spinescent, dull, stipitate-glandular; axillary leaves present proximally to throughout. Inflorescences (3-)6-30-flowered, open cymes; bracts lanceolate to subulate, usually scarious. Pedicels 0.2-2 cm, stipitate-glandular. Flowers: hypanthium disc-shaped; sepals 1-3-veined, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate (herbaceous portion narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate), 3-6(-7) mm, not enlarging in fruit, apex often purple, acute to acuminate or spinescent, not hooded, stipitate-glandular; petals obovate, 0.5-1.6 times as long as sepals, apex rounded, entire. Capsules on stipe ca. 0.1-0.2 mm, ovoid, 5 mm, usually shorter than sepals. Seeds reddish brown to dark brown, oblong-elliptic with hilar notch on 1 end, 1.5-2.7 mm, tuberculate; tubercles low-rounded.
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