Erect, annual or perennial, stellate pubescent, 30 cm to 1 m tall undershrub. Leaves with filiform, 2-5 mm long stipules; petiole 2-20 mm long; 1-3 spiny tubercles present on stem at the base of petiole; blade 0.5-4 cm long, 0.3-2.5 cm broad, lanceolate to ovate, oblong or somewhat orbicular, rounded at base, acute or obtuse at apex, serrate, usually cinereous on both surfaces. Flowers axillary, solitary or 2-5 in fascicles in terminal branches; pedicel 2-5 mm, in fruit up to c. 2 cm long, jointed near the middle or top. Calyx 4-5 mm long, c. 5 mm across, slightly accrescent, fused somewhat above the middle; lobes triangular; acute to acuminate, 1-2 mm long. Corolla white, exceeding the calyx. Fruit depressed globose, pubescent above; mericarps 5, membranous, 2-3 mm long, trigonous, dehiscent at apex but seed released from the disintegrated base, radially striately nerved, apically with 2, 0.5-0.8 mm long, divergent awns. Seeds c. 1.5 mm long, glabrous, brown to black.