biennial, quite glabrous, glaucous; stems prostrate, branching; leaves alternate, fasciculate, fleshy, linear-terete, sub-acute; stipulary sheathes broad, with acuminate teeth; peduncles, pedicels and calyces sparsely tuberculate or smooth; peduncles axillary, once or twice as long as the leaf, 2–4 flowered; pedicels much shorter than the peduncle; stamens 5; seeds 3-angled-pyriform, very smooth. A leafy herb, very like H. verrucosa, but differing in the prostrate stems, shorter peduncles, and few stamens. Branches whitish. Leaves 1/2–1 inch long, 1/2 line wide. Stipules white. Peduncles 1–1 1/2 inches long; pedicels 2–4 lines long. Sepals 1 line, in fruit 1 1/2 line long, with a wide, white margin. Anthers sub-globose. Stigmata sessile. Capsule globose, as long as the calyx or a little longer. Seeds shining, brown.