Herbs perennial. Caudex densely pilose; annual branches numerous, growing from caudex, diffuse or obliquely ascending, branched, usually with 4-8 internodes, papillate; internodes slightly 4-angled, usually 1-3 cm, brittle. Leaves slightly recurved, linear, semiterete, 0.6-1.2 cm × 1-2 mm, adaxially plane or slightly sulcate, apex somewhat swollen, with a short, acicular awn. Flowers usually 1-3 in leaf axils; bractlets shorter than perianth. Perianth segments broadly elliptic, ca. 2.5 mm, enlarged in fruit, proximally with a crescent-shaped, winglike process abaxially, margin entire or erose. Disk lobes semiorbicular, ovoid, or conic, papillate. Stamens 5; filaments narrowly fusiform, slightly compressed; anthers oblong, apex muticous. Style obscure; stigmas black-brown, subulate. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Arid slopes. SW Xinjiang [Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].