Plants annual. Stems erect to ascending, branched, 4-6 dm, ± glandular-pubescent, white-villous. Leaves aromatic, distal leaves sessile; petiole 2-2.5 mm; blade lanceolate, 2-9 × 0.5-4 cm, base cuneate, margins of distal leaves shallowly dentate to sinuate-pinnatifid, apex acuminate, villous and copiously gland-dotted (rarely nearly glabrous). Inflorescences terminal and axillary spikes, 3-15 cm; glomerules globose, 1.7-2.3 mm diam.; bracts leaflike, narrowly ovate, 1-1.8 cm, apex acuminate. Flowers: perianth segments 5, connate for ca. ¹/2 their length, distinct portion ovate, 0.7-1 mm, apex obtuse, rounded abaxially, villous, covering fruit at maturity; stamens 5; stigmas 3. Achenes ovoid; pericarp nonadherent, glandular. Seeds vertical, black, ovoid, 0.5-0.8 × 0.8 mm; seed coat smooth.

Fruiting summer-fall. Waste areas; 0-100 m; introduced; Calif., Oreg.; native to s South America.