Annual, very succulent, glabrous herb, 10-40 cm tall, branching from the base, stem erect to ascending somewhat woody at base, becoming narrowly winged on the margins on drying, not turning black. Leaves linear-oblong, terete, entire, succulent, obtuse, lower 15-25 x 1.5-2.5 mm, adnate to some extent to the branches or wings of the stem so that they appear somewhat contiguous with stem, upper one ovate or subrounded, smaller. Flowers in axillary clusters, borne on short axes up to 3.5 (-5) cm long, in early fruits the wing-like rim of the fruiting perianth mostly confined to lateral ones, in the case of fall-produced fruits generally present; stamens not prominent; seeds rotund, 1.5 - 2.5 mm in diam., black glossy or almost tawny and dull.