Herbs annual, 20-80 cm tall. Stem erect, much branched, green striate, sometimes reddish purple striate, ribbed; branches obliquely spreading, slender. Petiole 1.5-2.5 cm; leaf blade broadly to narrowly ovate, lanceolate, or oblong, 2-4 × 1-3 cm, abaxially ± gray-white farinose, adaxially light green and not farinose (or only moderately so), base broadly cuneate, rounded, or subtruncate, margin entire, pellucid, apex cuneate or shortly acuminate, mucronate. Glomerules arranged into dense or interrupted spikes or spikelike panicles on upper part of branches; rachis with fascicles of terete, multicellular hairs. Flowers bisexual. Perianth compressed globose, 5-parted; segments broadly ovate, mostly thickened abaxially and becoming star-shaped in fruit, reddish or yellowish farinose, margin membranous. Stamens 5; anthers ca. 0.5 mm. Utricle globose or ovoid, depressed. Seed horizontal, black, ca. 1 mm in diam., slightly pitted. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

River banks, lake shores, beaches, field margins, wastelands. Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (S Siberia), NE Vietnam; C Asia].