General: Annual herb from a taproot; stems usually prostrate or low and spreading, numerous, branched from the base, 10-40 cm long.
Leaves: Stem leaves alternate, pale green on upper surfaces, greyish-mealy below, gradually reduced upwards, oblong egg-shaped or deltoid, 1-3 cm long, coarsely toothed, narrowing to stout stalks, fleshy.
Flowers: Inflorescence of dense clusters in numerous, short, axillary spikes and a terminal, simple or compound spike, greenish.
Fruits: Thin, membranous envelopes flattened at the top, 0.8 mm wide; seeds mostly horizontal, some vertical.
Mesic to dry roadsides, waste places and saline or alkaline flats in the steppe and montane zones; frequent in SC and SE BC, rare in SW BC (Vancouver); introduced from Eurasia.
