Annual, 0.5-2 m. Stems erect, simple or branching, angular. Leaves large, 5-10 cm., long-petioled, alternate, or lower ones sometimes opposite, often folded at the ventral side, triangular or ovoid, truncate or cordate at base, entire or dentate, scurfy-mealy or glabrous beneath; the upper ones oblong-lanceolate, tapering. Racemes loose, simple or paniculate, leafless. Flowers of three types: (1) staminate flowers with 3-5-lobed membranous perianth, (2) hermaphrodite flowers enclosed in perianth, bearing fruits with horizontal black seeds (fruits with vertical seeds are rarely present), and (3) female flowers enclosed by accrescent, flattened valves (as in other Atriplex species). Valves orbicular, 10-15 mm. in diam., changing colour at the fruiting stage from green through red to brownish, membranous, almost free at margins but fused in the basal-median part due to which, the basal fruit part is 3-5 mm. higher than the base of the valves, and the fruit seems to be located in the center of the valves. The seeds of fruits enclosed in the valves are heteromorphic (black and small, or brownish and large). Fl. August-September.