Plant: Annual 10-20 cm; stem branched throughout, densely strigose and spreading-bristly

Leaves: 1-3(4) cm, ± linear, bristly; longest bristles spreading to ascending; basal whorled; cauline generally opposite below, alternate above, simple, entire

INFLORESCENCE: cymes, dense in fruit

Flowers: sepals free, 3-4 mm, 4-6 mm and ± oblong in fruit, hairs like leaves; corolla generally white, tube generally 1-13 mm, appendages 5, white to yellow; corolla limb 1-2 mm wide; anthers included; ovary generally 4-lobed

Fruit: Fruit: nutlets generally 4, 1.5-2 mm, lanceolate, back smooth to minutely rippled, inner surface smooth, flat, margin sharp-angled, groove on inside surface generally open, flared at base, edge flat

Misc: Sandy soils, creosote-bush scrub; < 500 m.; Feb-May