Shrubs or multi-trunked trees, 1-8 m. Stems branched at right angles, ± terete; branchlets with lepidote scales. Leaves: petiole 1-1.2 mm; blade 1-3(-5) × 0.2-0.6 cm, base rounded, apex shallowly emarginate to rounded, abaxial surface densely lepidote, adaxial surface smooth. Inflorescences terminating spur shoots, 1-3 cm, lepidote. Pedicels 3-4 mm. Flowers: sepals (reflexed at anthesis), ovate, proximal pair 0.8-1.5 mm, distal pair 3-3.5 × 2.5 mm, abaxially lepidote, adaxially tomentose, hairs simple; petals white, oblong, 3-6.5 × 2-3 mm; staminodia 0-3; gynophore 3-8 mm. Capsules 8-11 × 5-6 mm, dehiscing into 2-4 segments, constricted between seeds, mesocarp red. Seeds 3.8-5 mm. 2n = 16. Flowering early summer. Desert scrub, arroyos or flats; 50-200 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora); South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile).