Schoberia pterantha Karelin & Kirilov, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 14: 734. 1841; Lerchea pterantha (Karelin & Kirilov) Kuntze; S. pygmaea Karelin & Kirilov; Suaeda pygmaea (Karelin & Kirilov) Iljin (1936), not Moquin-Tandon (1840); S. roborowskii Illjin.

Herbs annual, 15-60 cm tall. Root brown. Stem erect, much branched, terete; branches obliquely or slightly spreading, usually slightly curved above. Leaves gray-green, linear to narrowly elliptic, 0.5-1 cm × 1-2 mm, abaxially convex, adaxially plane, base attenuate, apex shortly acuminate. Glomerules axillary, usually 3-6-flowered; bractlets ovate to ovate-lanceolate, margin slightly toothed. Flowers bisexual and female. Perianth segments usually oblique, 3-winged, abaxially with a longitudinal keel throughout length, apex cucullate. Anthers broadly ovate to oblong, ca. 0.6 mm. Ovary ovoid, apex slightly concave; style absent; stigmas 2 or 3, minute. Utricle enclosed by perianth; pericarp free from seed. Seed horizontal, vertical, or oblique, red-brown to black, sublustrous, ovoid, 0.8-1 × 0.7-0.8 mm, smooth, rim margin obtuse. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Suaeda pterantha is most probably a synonym of S. acuminata.

Arid slopes, wastelands. Xinjiang [Russia (SW Siberia); C Asia].