Stems erect or decumbent, much branched, 3-12(-20) dm, forming clumps 3-10(-30) dm broad; branches obtusely to sharply angled, finely scurfy, white scurfy to glabrate. Leaves: petiole 2-21 mm on proximal leaves, distal ones sessile; blade 3-veined at base, ovate to lance-ovate, or deltoid-ovate, (10-)25-75 mm and often as broad, margin irregularly dentate or entire. Flowers of sexes intermixed in glomerules or staminate ones in distinct glomerules. Staminate flowers 5-merous. Pistillate flowers in axillary fascicles. Fruiting bracteoles sessile to subsessile, orbicular or cuneate-orbicular, mostly 3-veined, (3-)4-7 × 2-4 mm, united to middle, margin sharply dentate, faces with a few irregular, green projections or crests, or unappendaged.

Flowering summer-fall. Dry or saline substrates; above 1000 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Nev., Okla., Tex.; Mexico.

Atriplex argentea var. mohavensis is a tall, bushy plant with tumbleweed proportions. Its morphologic differences, slight though they may be, are geographically based.