Annual to 40 cm; stems erect or spreading, simple or branched from base, with scabrid papillae when young later glabrous, except for villous tangled hairs in leaf axils. Leaves to c.15 x 0.5 mm, semi-amplexicaul with a white membranous margin; younger leaves present in leaf axils, almost pungent. Bracts firmly enclosing the solitary flowers. Perianth segments c. 4 x 1.5 mm, oblong. Infructesences condensed on short lateral branches. Wings of fruiting perianth irregularly spreading-erect, c. 3 x 2 mm. Seed c. 1.5 x 0.8 mm.

Fl. Per.: August.

Type: Afghanistan “ in rupestribus sterilibus prope Sokhtar” W. Griffith 1766 = Journal 1113 (K!).

Distribution: Afghanistan, Pakistan (Baluchistan).

According to Freitag (in Ali & Ghaffar, eds, Plant Life of South Asia 83. 1991), under-represented in collections from northern Baluchistan. It is not uncommon in semi-desertic communities in adjacent parts of Afghanistan.