A dwarf undershrub up to 13(20) cm. high, forming small compact mats, with a much branched woody rootstock. Branches short, up to 5 mm. in diam., leafless, blackish and with lower parts covered by the persistent, dry sheaths of the old leaves, reddish and leafy along the terminal 1·5-6·5(15) cm. Leaves up to 2·2 x 1·2 cm., oblong to oblong- or subcircular-obovate, usually obtuse at the apex, entire and ciliate at the margin (cilia rigid, white), slightly attenuate or contracted at the broad base, flat, ± succulent and green tinged red when fresh, turning somewhat rigid, thin and reddish-brown to nearly black on drying, usually glabrous on both sides, sessile, usually 4-ranked and ± condensed (rosettes up to 4·5 cm. in diameter, sometimes nearly spherical) or somewhat scattered and decussate along the stem but always longer than the internodes, erect or ± spreading. Flowers 5-merous in terminal, dichotomous, corymbose or sometimes dense and globular inflorescences, 1-5 cm. in diameter; peduncle 1-8 cm. long, erect, slender, retrorsely appressed papillose-hairy, with two pairs of opposite, connate at base, oblong, obtuse or subacute ciliate bracts, one pair between the base and the middle of the peduncle, the other below the inflorescence; pedicels up to 2·5 mm. long. Calyx (2)2·5-3 mm. long, half as long as corolla or more; sepals (1)1·5-1·75 mm. broad, triangular or lanceolate, attenuate towards the acute apex, keeled, ciliate at the margin and along the keel (cilia ± rigid, acute, spreading, white, ± scattered). Corolla 4-5 mm. long, white; petals oblong-obovate to broadly ovate-elliptical, obtuse to nearly acute, shortly mucronate below the apex, fleshy, smooth, erect or slightly spreading or reflexed at the top. Filaments 1·5-2·25 mm. long; anthers 0·5-0·75 mm. long. Follicles (with styles) 2·5-3 mm. long. Scales 0·4-0·6 x 0·3-0·4 mm., subrectangular, truncate or emarginate at the top, purple,
