Plant: Annual forb 10-30 cm; stem simple to branched throughout, strigose and rough-hairy to bristly; hairs spreading Leaves: herbage bristly; Leaf 1-4 cm, linear to oblong; bristles spreading; basal whorled; cauline generally opposite below, alternate above, simple INFLORESCENCE: cyme, terminal, dense to open below in fruit, generally elongated in fruit Flowers: sepals free, 1-2 mm, 2.5-4 mm and ± linear in fruit, densely spreading-bristly; corolla unscented, 1-3(4) mm wide, white, tube generally 1-13 mm, appendages 5, white to yellow; anthers included; ovary generally 4-lobed Fruit: Fruit: nutlets 4 (1 slightly > other 3), ± 1 mm, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, back brown, white-granular, dull, groove ± open throughout to flared open at base Misc: Sandy to rocky soils, creosote-bush scrub, desert woodland; < 1400 m.; Mar-May References: J.C. Hickman, ed. The Jepson Manual.W.D. McDougal. Seed plants of Northern Arizona.