Dwarf shrub, erect to ± diffuse or, if burnt regularly, subshrubby and often with massive, woody base and numerous, thin aerial stems. Stems c. (0.1-)0.15-0.3(-0.4) m long, unbranched to ± much branched, branches ascending to erect, glabrous to ± densely papillate, reddish (brown) and shiny above. Leaves decussate, pseudoverticillate; blades (5-)8-12 (-15) x 0.5-1.0 mm, linear, ± needle-like and ± triangular in section or (on long shoots) sometimes linear-lanceolate and shallowly concave above, glabrous or margins with whitish hairs c. 0.1-0.2 (-0.3) mm long, upper surface and midrib often dark brown. Flowers in clusters of 6-2 at nodes, inflorescence spike-like, ± conspicuous, especially in fruiting corolla 5-merous (in 'male' very rarely, in 'female' occasionally also 4-merous), greenish yellow to creamy yellow, often reddish purple tinged, occasionally a little hairy near tip. 'Male': tube 0.7-1.5 mm long, broadly funnel-shaped, lobes 2.4-3.7 x 0.8-1.0 mm; anthers 1.4-2.0 mm long. 'Female': tube 0.3-0.7 mm long, lobes 0.5-1.0 x 0.2-0.3 mm; stigmas c. 3.4-6.3(-7.0) mm long, purplish red or, less commonly, greyish or greyish green; ovary c. 1.4-2.0 x 0.9-1.5 mm, sometimes obscurely ribbed below 5 small calyx lobes. Fruit indehiscent, hard, not supported by a carpophore, c. 3.2-5.5 x 2.0-3.4 mm, obovoidal to ellipsoidal, reddish brown, glabrous or ± papillate, with 5 trapeziform, ± obovate to triangular calyx lobes c. 0.5-0.9 x 0.7-0.8 mm.
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