Annual (sometimes perennial?) erect or ascending herb up to 50 cm. high, rooting at the lower nodes. Stem unbranched or little-branched, 4-gonous. Leaves narrowly lanceolate to elliptic-obovate, 10–32 (60) × 2·5–8 (12) mm., acute at the apex, the upper ones subcordate at the base, the lower ones attenuate-cuneate, pinnately nerved, the midrib impressed above, prominent below. Dichasia 3-many-nowered, sessile or subsessile, dense; bracteoles 0·4–0·5 mm. long, linear; fructiferous pedicels as long as the calyx. Calyx-tube 1·5–2 mm. long, campanulate, semiglobose in fruit. Calyx-lobes 4, equalling 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the tube; appendages 0 or very short. Petals 4, white, ± as long as the calyx-lobes. Stamens 4, as long as the calyx. Ovary 0·7–1·2 mm. in diameter, globose; stigma sessile to subsessile (the style sometimes up to 0·5 mm. long). Capsule 1·5–2·5 mm. in diameter, globose, covered by the calyx to 2/3 of its length. Seeds c. 0·5 mm. long, brownish, pyriform, concave-convex.
