Slender annual with delicate foliage, 8-40 cm high, usually erect, more rarely prostrate, hispid-puberulent. Leaves filiform, scarcely succulent, 9-35 x 0.5-0.9 mm, with a short and thin up to 1 mm long spine. Flowers in dense spikes with ascending to spreading bracts and bracteoles, often most flowers in loosely arranged groups of 2-3 in condensed lateral spikes with sheathing and fused bracts and bracteoles, producing unwinged complex fruits. Bracts 5-8(12) mm long, becoming rigid rather late, spine 1-1.5 mm. Bracteoles 2-4(5) mm long, spine 1.5-2 mm long; bracts and bracteoles along the margins prominently papillose-ciliate. Tepals lanceolate to ligulate, 1.5-2 mm long, the outer 0.6-0.9 mm wide and 3-veined with the midrib reaching the tip and eventually terminating into a short mucro, the inner 1-veined with eroso-dentate apex, transverse line at 1/3, at least outer tepals with distinctly ciliate to papillose margins. Anthers 0.4-0.6(0.8) mm long, including the minute appendage, divided for 1/3-1/2; filaments 1.8-2.5 mm long; disc c. 0.1 mm high, shallowly 10-lobed, sparsely papillose. Style 0.4-0.6 mm long; stigmas (1.0)1.2-1.8 mm long, revolute, gradually narrowed into very fine apices, shortly and loosely papillose. Winged fruits 4-7 mm diam., the 3 outer wings 1-2 mm long, membranous, prominently veined, the 2 inner much shorter, linear, coriaceous; tepals above the wings somewhat thickened and indurated, incurved, upper part short, membranous, crumpled, more rarely the outermost stiff from slightly hardened midrib; tepals below the wings forming a bowl-shaped structure, base flat, with 5 shallow grooves; in lower and middle part of the plants often wingless complex fruits made up by condensed lateral spikes with 2-3 flowers surrounded by glabrous, shining, gibbous, hardened and coalescent bases of bracts and bracteoles, or evolving from 1 flower with subtending bract and bracteoles. Seed horizontal, more rarely oblique.