Flowering spring-fall. Mat-atriplex and Castle Valley saltbush communities on Mancos Shale Formation; 1200-1300 m; Utah.

Subshrubs, dioecious or sparingly monoecious, mostly 1.5-5 × 1-8 dm. Stems prostrate to decumbent. Leaves tardily deciduous, alternate, sessile or subsessile; blade narrowly oblanceolate, 15-50 × 2-6 mm, 5-15 times longer than wide. Staminate flowers yellow, in glomerules 2-3 mm thick, in terminal spikes or panicles 3-11 cm Pistillate flowers in spikes to 25 cm. Fruiting bracteoles sessile or on stipes to 2 mm, body flattened or apparently subglobose, 6-9 × 5-8 mm, united to attenuated terminal tooth, with 2-6 lateral teeth. Seeds 2-2.5 mm wide. 2n = 18.

This taxon forms occasional hybrids with Atriplex gardneri var. cuneata, with which it occurs.