Perennials; (caudex woody, covered with persistent petiolar remains); somewhat glaucous, glabrous throughout. Stems (often subdecumbent), branched basally, (flexuous), 1.5-5.6(-8.5) dm. Basal leaves: petiole 1-6.5 (-13) cm; blade often lanceolate, sometimes oblong or ob-lanceolate, (2-)3.5-16.5(-20.5) cm × (5-)10-25(-45) mm, margins entire. Cauline leaves (ascending); sessile; blade lanceolate to linear, 1-7(-11) cm × 2-7(-14) mm, (base sagittate to somewhat amplexicaul), margins entire. Racemes (few-flowered, corymbose), elongated in fruit, (flower buds oblong). Fruiting pedicels usually horizontal to divaricate, rarely divaricate-ascending, straight or slightly curved upward, slender, (2.5-)4-9 (-16) mm, slightly flattened at base. Flowers: sepals erect, oblong, 3-4(-4.5) × 1-1.5(-1.7) mm; petals lavender or white, often spatulate, sometimes oblanceolate or obovate, 6-9(-10) × (1.5-)2-3(-3.5) mm, margins not crisped, claw strongly differentiated from blade, (slender, 2-3.5(-4) mm, narrowest at base); nectar glands lateral, median glands absent; filaments tetradynamous, median pairs 3-4(-5) mm, lateral pair 2-3.5(-4) mm; anthers included, oblong, 1-2(-2.5) mm, not circinately coiled; gynophore (stout), 0.5-1 mm. Fruits erect to ascending, torulose, slightly incurved or straight, terete, 1-2.5(-4.2) cm × 0.8-1(-1.5) mm; ovules 12-30 per ovary; style cylindrical, (0.3-)1-2(-3) mm. Seeds (1-)1.3-1.5 × 0.5-8(-1) mm. 2n = 26.

Flowering Apr-Jun. Often tangled among woody shrubs in moderately to strongly alkaline sandy loam or clay, open deserts; 1000-2400 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Oreg.