Plants branched from base, 10-40(-60) cm, sparsely covered with dendroid and almost stellate hairs. Leaf blades narrowly lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, plane, 2-5 × (0.1-)0.2-0.5(-0.6) cm. Inflorescences usually dense, ovoid, ovate-clavate, or ovate-cylindric, rarely interrupted near base. Bracts ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 0.5-1.5(-2) × 0.3-1 cm. Perianth segment 1. Fruits usually deep olive green, brown, or rarely to almost black, usually without spots and/or warts, or occasionally spotted, strongly convex abaxially, prominently concave to almost plane adaxially, usually broadest beyond middle, (3.2-)3.5-4.5(-5) × 2.2-3.3(-3.5) mm; wing (when present) semitranslucent, to 0.2 mm wide, margins entire, apex rounded or indistinctly triangular.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): North America.

The inflorescence bracts of Corispermum hookeri are conspicuously imbricate (usually strongly overlapping). Corispermum hookeri seems to be closely related to the narrow-winged taxa, C. villosum and C. ochotense, and to C. pallasii sensu stricto. The names C. orientale and C. hyssopifolium have been commonly misapplied to this species.