Plants herbs, erect, annual, (1) 2–4 dm tall, glabrous; stems with caudex absent, the aerial flowering stems erect, solid, not fistulose, 0.5–1.5 dm long, glabrous; leaves basal, the petioles 1–3 cm long, sparsely villous, the blades obovate to round, 1–3 cm long and wide, sparsely villous to hirsute and greenish to grayish on both surfaces, the margins plane; inflorescences cymose, usually dense, 10–30 cm long, 5–35 cm wide, the branches not fistulose, glabrous, the bracts 3, scalelike, 0.5–3 mm long, 0.5–2.5 mm wide; peduncles erect, straight, slender, 1–3 cm long, glabrous; involucres campanulate, 1–1.5 mm long and wide, glabrous, the teeth 5, erect, 0.2–0.4 mm long; flowers 1–1.6 mm long, the perianth white with greenish or reddish midribs, becoming pink to rose, glabrous, the tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl pandurate with swollen, auriculate bases, those of inner whorl oblanceolate, the stamens included to exserted, 0.8–1.2 mm long, the filaments glabrous; achenes shiny brown to black, trigonous, 1.3–1.6 mm long, glabrous.

Flowering Sep-Oct. Sandy flats and washes, saltbush, greasewood, and mesquite communities; 500–1500 m; southeastern Arizona (Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, and Pinal cos.) and extreme southwestern New Mexico (northwest Hidalgo Co.).