Annual, 10-35 cm. Stems single or few, ascending to erect. Leaves 1-4 x 0.5-2 cm., the basal ones long-petioled, ovate-spatulate to oblong-lanceolate, tapering at both ends; upper leaves short-petioled, lanceolate to linear, acute; ochreae up to 1 cm., membranous-hyaline. Inflorescences terminal, simple, racemose or spicate, many-whorled, elongated in fruit; whorls (l-)2-3(-4)- flowered, the lower remote, the upper dense. Bracts membranous- hyaline, longer than flowers. Pedicels at first shorter, later longer than flowers, dilated, jointed near base, reflexed. Flowers about 2 mm., hermaphrodite, sometimes dimorphic. Valves 2.5-5 x 2.5-6 mm., leathery, deltoid, obtuse, with 2-4 narrowly triangular spiny teeth on each side and a minute wart at base. Fl. February-May.