Plants perennial, cespitose, acaulescent, semisucculent, primarily short- to long-rhizomatous. Leaves in basal rosettes; blade linear, thick and striate-ridged abaxially, margins with threadlike, detaching filaments, apex frayed or with hard spine. Inflorescences paniculate [racemose], loose, 3-8-branched. Flowers bisexual; perianth narrowly tubular to broadly campanulate; tepals 6; stamens 6, inserted on receptacle or at tepal bases, included; filaments glabrous; anthers sagittate, with septal nectaries; receptacle fleshy; ovary superior; style slender, barely exceeding tepals. Fruits capsular, ovoid, dehiscence septicidal. Seeds many, black, flattened. x = 30.

Hesperaloe parviflora, and to a much lesser extent H. funifera, are cultivated in the semiarid and arid Southwest. The original distribution of H. parviflora is likely much obscured because of a long history of roadside and ornamental plantings throughout the area.