Sprawling succulent perennial with wide-spreading roots; stem woody and 3–5 mm thick at the base, decumbent, much branched, the branches ascending to 15 cm high, 1.5–2 mm thick. Leaves alternate, subulate or sometimes flat, fleshy, grooved along the upper surface, 8–16 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, acute-apiculate; axillary hairs conspicuous in shaggy tufts exceeding the internodes on the young shoots, the hairs broadened at the base and some joined into a pair of crescent-shaped white scales. Flowers in terminal clusters of 2–3, encircled by ± 8 involucral leaves enclosing a copious mass of woolly hairs, opening in late morning. Sepals reddish, 4.3–5.8 mm long, the outer with a small crest; petals 5, yellow or rarely white, obovate-oblong, 5–8 mm long, rounded, apiculate; stamens (10–)16–22(–30); stigma 4–5(–6)-branched. Capsule dehiscing below the middle, base 1.5–2 mm high, shallowly infundibuliform, lid a broad rounded dome 2.5–3 mm high; seeds (0.75–)0.8–0.9 mm long, light grey with a dull lustre, the testa cells flat, small, jigsaw-shaped, usually with a black central peg. Fig. 3 (p. 22).
