Succulent annual; stems ascending to decumbent from a central root, up to 20 cm long, much branched. Leaves alternate, variable, linear-terete to lanceolate and flat, 6–12 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, acute, crowded on short internodes; axillary hairs in shaggy tufts, exceeding the internodes on the young growth, the older stems glabrescent. Flowers in terminal clusters of 3–4, encircled by ± 8 involucral leaves enclosing dense woolly hairs; involucral leaves resembling the stem leaves. Sepals 4–5 mm long, keeled and narrowly crested above the middle; petals 5, yellow, obovate-oblong, 5–7 mm long, rounded, acute; stamens 15–30; stigma 4–5-branched. Capsule 3.6–4 mm high, dehiscing in the middle, the lid broadly conical, slightly wider than high; seeds 0.5–0.6 mm long, iridescent grey, testa cells stellate, domed to conical-tuberculate,