Stem greenish white, 15-50 cm tall, divaricately branched from base, glabrous. Leaves dense; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm; leaf blade obovate or spatulate to oblong-oblanceolate, 0.5-2.5 cm × 3-10 mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse or acute, with a mucro. Flowers clustered at axils, shorter than petioles. Bracts and bracteoles lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, apex acute. Tepals 4(or 5), green, ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1-2.5 mm, apex acuminate and pointed. Stigmas 3. Utricles ellipsoid, longer than longest perianth segment, ca. 2 mm, circumscissile. Seeds black, slightly shiny, ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm in diam. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 32.

Fields, roadsides. Beijing, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [native to North America].