Annual herb to small shrub to 2 feet tall and wide, becoming sprawling, and often supported by surrounding plants.
Plants bear straight, stiff, sharp, appressed hairs; nutlets 4, all alike, margins angled or rounded, not sharp, roughened; style surpassed by the nutlets or at most barely surpassing them.
Habitat
Brushy, rocky slopes with cacti, juniper, pinyon pine and chaparral on sandstone and basalt slopes. Also found in soil pockets on steep canyon walls and ledges on slick rock shelves.
Flower Characteristics
The flowers are borne on elongated stems with the lowest flowers sometimes not touching those just above them on the erect stems.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Stems are simple to branched throughout, and bear straight, stiff, sharp hairs that lie close to the stems. Leaves are 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long, linear to oblong, and generally bristly.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
All 4 nutlets are usually of equal size. Nutlets are about 1/10 inch long, 4 per flower, lanceolate; backs are densely grooved and may be forked or flared open at the base.