Plants annual, herbaceous, viscid, not glaucous. Stems prostrate, diffusely branched proximally, 5-20 cm. Leaves appearing whorled or opposite; stipules deciduous, simple, filiform, 1-1.5 mm; petiole absent or nearly so; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.3-1.5 cm × 0.5-1.5 mm, base attenuate, apex rounded to acute. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, somewhat congested, 4-7-flowered cymes. Pedicels shorter to longer than subtending bracts at maturity. Flowers: sepals with 3 obscure veins arcing outward at midsection and ± confluent apically, lanceolate to narrowly ovate (herbaceous portion similar), 2.3-3 mm, subequal, apex obtuse (herbaceous portion acute to acuminate), not hooded, stipitate-glandular; petals 2-fid for 1/ 2+ their length, 1.8-2.2 mm, 3-1 times sepals, lobes 1-veined, vein unbranched, spatulate, trunk absent, base gradually tapered, apex rounded. Seeds brown abaxially, transparent (or white embryo visible) adaxially, snail-shell- or teardrop-shaped, 0.6-0.7 mm; tubercles minute, rounded.

Flowering spring. Stabilized sand dunes; 200-300 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora).

Drymaria viscosa is often attributed to S. Watson ex Orcutt; however, as B. D. Parfitt and W. C. Hodgson (1985) correctly stated, C. R. Orcutt (1886) merely mentioned the name and did not publish it validly.