Stems slightly branched distally, 4.5--48 cm ´ 0.2--0.7 mm; internodes 0.1--3.2 cm, without prickles. Leaves spreading to ascending with age, 0.6--2.8 cm, lax in age; sheath 0.5--1.5 mm wide, apex truncate; blade 0.1--0.5 mm wide, margins minutely serrulate, teeth 13--17 per side, apex acute with 2--3 teeth, teeth unicellular; midvein without prickles abaxially. Flowers 1--3 per axil, staminate and pistillate on same plants. Staminate flowers in distal axils, 1.5--2 mm; involucral beaks 2-lobed, 0.8 mm; anthers 1-loculed, 1.3 mm. Pistillate flowers distal to proximal on plant, 0.5--2.7 mm; styles 0.3--1.5 mm; stigmas 2-lobed. Seeds not recurved, light brown, fusiform, 2--3.2 ´ 0.4--0.7 mm, apex with style situated offat center; testa dull, 3 cell layers thick, pitted; aeroleareoles regularly arranged in 40 longitudinal rows, not ladderlike, 4-angled, longer than broad, end walls raised. 2n = 24, 36.
