Plants annual, matted; taproot filiform. Stems prostrate to erect, dichotomously branched, 3-20 cm, retrorsely to spreading- pubescent throughout. Leaves: stipules ovate-lanceolate, 0.5-7 mm, apex acuminate, entire; blade elliptic to oblong or ovate, or basal ones spatulate, 2-18 × 1-6 mm, herbaceous to leathery, apex mucronate to short-spine-tipped, moderately antrorsely pubescent. Inflorescences diffuse, flowers solitary (paired) in axils of leafy bracts. Flowers 5-merous, broadly ovoid, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx tapering distally, 2-2.3 mm, glabrous to strigose; sepals brownish to yellowish, veins absent, subulate to lanceolate, 1-1.7 mm, leathery to rigid, margins whitish, 0.03-0.1 mm wide, papery, apex terminated by awn, hood obscure, small flange, awn straight to slightly divergent, yellow, 0.3-0.4 mm, scabrous to antrorsely strigose, spinose; staminodes narrowly triangular, 0.2-0.3 mm; style 1, cleft in distal 8, 0.7-0.9 mm. Utricles ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.5-0.8 mm, essentially smooth, glabrous.

Flowering spring-fall. Sandy ridges, dunes, pine/oak woodland; 0-300 m; Fla., Ga., N.C., S.C.