Annual, prostrate or ascending, sometimes erect, glabrous or minutely hairy herb, up to 25 cm. high (probably more in subsp. orientalis). Stems branched at the base, 4-gonous, the branches slender, prostrate or ascending. Leaves 5–25 x 1–6 mm., decussate, narrowly elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, obtuse or subacute at the apex, margin scabrous, all cuneate at the base or the upper ones rounded or cordate and the lower ones cuneate, 1-nerved. Dichasia axillary, 1–15-flowered, sessile or nearly so; pedicels 1–4 mm. long, slender, 4-gonous, glabrous or minutely hairy, bracteolate at the base, the bracteoles c. 1 mm. long, linear, scarious. Flower 4-merous. Calyx 1–1·5 mm. long, campanulate; lobes triangular, equalling c. 1/4 of the calyx-tube length; appendages shorter or scarcely longer than the lobes, without cilia or ciliolate at the apex. Petals 0. Stamens 4, opposite to the lobes, inserted a little below the middle of the calyx-tube and attaining the apex of the lobes. Ovary c. 0·6 mm. in diameter, globose; stigma sessile or style and stigma up to 0·3 mm. long. Capsule globose, exceeding the calyx lobes. Seeds many, c. 0·45 mm. long, brownish.
