Rigid dwarf shrub or shrub, intricately branched, c. 0.5-1 m tall; much lower, c. 0.1-0.3(-0.4) m, occasionally cushion-forming if browsed. Stems erect, ascending or sometimes ± prostrate, much branched; branches often single at nodes or, if paired, branches unequal, often spine-tipped if browsed. Leaves decussate; blades (2-)3-7(-10) x (1.2-)1.5-2 mm, ovate-or linear-lanceolate, shallowly concave above, convex below, appearing greyish, silvery grey or greenish grey due to dense cover of very short, often curled whitish hairs or papillae. Flowers single or (less commonly) paired at nodes, rarely in clusters of 4-6; corolla 5-merous, yellowish to greenish yellow, sometimes reddish tinged outside, usually densely papillate, ('male'): tube 0.8-1.3(-1.7) mm long, broadly funnel-shaped, lobes 2.5-3.2(-3.5) x (0.6-)0.8-1 mm; anthers (1.5-)1.8-2.5 mm long ('female'): male (0.1-)0.3-0.6 mm long, lobes (0.1-)0.3-0.7(-0.9) x 0.1-0.2(-0.4) mm, corolla sometimes absent altogether; stigmas (1.9-)2.5-7.5 mm long, dark purple, seldom greyish; ovary 1.4-2 x 0.8-1.2(-1.7) mm, with 5 small calyx lobes. Fruit inflated, laterally compressed, ± round, broadly obovate or ± heart-shaped in outline, dehiscent, not supported by a distinct carpophore, c. (5-)6-8 mm in diam., light reddish brown, papillate to glabrescent, with 5 rounded to ± triangular calyx lobes c. 0.2-0.4 x 0.3 mm.
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Dioecious, rigid, intricately branched shrub, 0.1-1 m tall, often cushionlike with branches spine-tipped. Leaves 4-ranked, ovateor linear-lanceolate, densely covered with shortish, curly, whitish hairs or papillae. Flowers 1(2) or rarely clustered in leaf axils, yellowish to greenish, occasionally tinged reddish, usually densely papillate. Fruit inflated, ± heartshaped.
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