Plants to 0.5 m. Leaves: blade linear-spatulate, 1.5–2.5 × 0.2–0.4 cm, unlobed; only midvein visible. Flowers: sepals connate basally; petals white; stamen filaments connate to 1/4 length.

Flowering and fruiting late spring–early summer. Dry sandy soils; 100–900 m; Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas).

The distribution of var. graminea lies west of that of var. dioica and does not extend as far south. In Texas, it is restricted to the trans-Pecos region. Some Mexican specimens erroneously annotated as var. graminea are actually Jatropha rzedowskii J. Jiménez Ramírez.