Shrubs, forming dense tufts and mats, 2-10 × 2-50 dm. Stems prostrate to decumbent, gray, branched, very brittle, occasionally rooting at nodes, glabrous, leaf scars ± knobby; branches prostrate to spreading, glaucous. Leaves crowded at tips of vegetative stems; petiole flat, ± 1 mm; blade glaucous, ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid; 2-10 × 1-2 mm, apex rounded. Glomes usually confined to distal stems and branches, forming ± densely crowded, ascending compound spikes, 1-5-flowered; branches 1-1.5 mm diam., as thick as vegetative ones; bracts glaucous, leaflike in shape, 1-5 mm. Flowers bisexual or pistillate; perianth 2-3 mm diam.; perianth segments proximally connate; ovary ± vase-shaped with necklike extension; stigmas 2-3. Seeds horizontal or vertical, 0.8-1.2 mm; seed coat black. Flowering spring-fall. Sandy beaches and dunes, saline flats, mostly on bare soils; 0-200 m; Tex.; Mexico; West Indies.