Non-dioecious (male, hermaphrodite + female or female) dwarf shrub, several- to many-stemmed, suberect or ± rounded and low. Stems 20–80( 125) cm. long, erect or ascending, mostly much-branched, branches ± erect or ascending, densely covered with whitish or reddish-brown hairs 0.2–0.9(1.2) mm. long. Leaves in whorls of 3, pseudo-verticillate; blades spreading to ascending, (2)3–11(15) x 0.8–3(5) mm., oblanceolate, narrowly .ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, mostly both surfaces densely covered with whitish spreading hairs 0.2–0.5(0.9) mm. long, sometimes less hairy below except for midrib; margins mostly strongly revolute; petioles subobsolete; stipular sheath hairy, with a seta (0.6)1–2.5 mm. long. Flowers subsessile, in clusters of 9–3 at nodes, female inflorescences occasionally somewhat congested and ± cylindrical; corolla 4-merous (very rarely also 5-merous in male or hermaphrodite), greenish-yellow to creamy yellow, at least near tips of lobes hairy outside. male, hermaphrodite: tube (0.7)1.2–2.2 mm. long (in male often somewhat smaller than in hermaphrodite), (narrowly) funnel-shaped, lobes (1.7)2–2.7(3.4) x (0.5)0.7–0.9 mm.; anthers 1.3–1.9 mm. long (in male often smaller than in hermaphrodite); male: small rudimentary ovary, sometimes also rudimentary stigmas present; hermaphrodite: stigmas 2–3.4 mm. long, ovary 0.7–1.2 x 0.5–0.8 mm., hairy, with 4 calyx lobes. Female: tube 0.3–0.7 mm. long, lobes 0.3–0.7(1) x 0.2–0.3 mm.; style 0.3–0.8 mm. long; stigmas 2.7–12.2 mm. long; ovary as in hermaphrodite. Fruit reddish-brown; mericarps (1.6)1.8–2.2 x 0.7–1 mm., ± oblong, quite densely covered with whitish, often upwardly directed hairs 0.2–0.7 mm. long, usually with 2 small, ± triangular calyx lobes (0.2)0.3–0.7 x 0.2–0.3 mm., often hidden amongst hairs.