Plants 3-6 dm. Caudex stems compact to slightly spreading. Leaves sheathing up stems; blade ovate to suborbiculate or orbiculate, 1-3 × 1-3 cm.

Flowering May-Oct. Gravelly to rocky flats and slopes, saltbush, mesquite, and creosote bush communities, oak woodlands; 300-900 m; Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León).

Variety platyphyllum is a Mexican taxon that just enters the flora area in Brewster, Presidio, Terrell, and Uvalde counties of western Texas. The type was gathered along the Nueces River in Uvalde County, but the variety has not been found in that area since 1849. Although this differs from the other varieties in terms of its leaf shap, a sharp distinction between this taxon and the others is not always possible in Texas.