Glabrous or papillose-hispid dwarf-shrub, 20-50 cm. Stems woody, much branching from base; branches spreading to erect, white, with short internodes. Leaves 0.5-1.5 cm., fleshy, mostly from subglobular to prismatic-cylindrical, mostly with a whitish (often caducous) bristle at tip, glabrous to papillose-hispid, fleecy at axils. Flowers arranged in globular clusters in leaf axils along upper part of branches; bracteoles ovate-triangular. Perianth membranous almost up to the hyaline top, fruiting perianth about 3 mm., usually with 2-3 (5) wings arising at the upper part of the segments. Stamens 5; filaments connate with the 4-5 papillose staminodes. Fruit ovoid, somewhat gibbous above, with persistent style; pericarp membranous. Fl. March-July.
Var. alopecuroides. Branches and leaves glabrous. Cusp of leaf short. Hab. : Shrub-steppes and saline soil. Negev, Samarian and Judean Deserts, Lower Jordan Valley, Dead Sea Valley, Arava Valley, Ammon, Moav, Edom.
Var. papillosus Maire, Fl. Afr. N. 8: 188 (1962). Branches and leaves densely and shortly papillose-hispid. Leaf-cusp often longer than in preceding variety. Hab.: Shrub-steppes. Negev Highlands.