Chenopodina microphylla (Pallas) Moquin-Tandon; Lerchea microphylla (Pallas) Kuntze; Schoberia microphylla (Pallas) C. A. Meyer.

Subshrubs to 1 m tall. Stems erect, much branched, gray-brown, somewhat glaucous when young, terete, ribbed, densely pubescent when young; branches spreading, rigid. Leaves gray-green, terete, slightly arcuate, lower ones to 1 cm × 1 mm, upper ones shorter, usually not more than 3 mm, base abruptly contracted, apex mucronate. Glomerules inserted on petiole, usually 3-5-flowered. Flowers bisexual and sometimes female. Perianth gray-green, 5-parted to middle, fleshy; segments oblong, abaxially convex, slightly enlarged in fruit, proximally slightly swollen, apex cucullate. Stamens 5; anthers oblong, ca. 0.5 mm. Style obscure; stigmas 2 or 3. Utricle enclosed by perianth; pericarp black-brown, membranous. Seed vertical or horizontal, black, sublustrous, ovoid, ca. 1.1 mm, obscurely pitted, rim margin obtuse.

Gobi desert, saline-alkaline deserts, dunes, lake shores. N Xinjiang [C Asia, SW Asia (Caucasus)].