Erect shrubs to c. 0.5 m high (rarely up to 2 m high). Articles thick, obovoid, prominently lobed, keeled towards apex, usually ciliolate. Spikes ovoid, the lowest bract pair larger and more deeply lobed than those above. Fruiting perianth spongy, pericarp hard, horny all over. Seed ovate, testa smooth and glossy.
MuM, Wim. Also WA, NT, SA. Uncommon in Victoria, known from a few records near salt lakes in the far north west of the State.
Sometimes occurring with, and difficult to distinguish from Tecticornia indica subsp. leiostachya, with specimens sometimes intermediate between the two taxa. Plants of subsp. bidens from Western Australia are much more clearly distinguished from subsp. leiostachya than those recorded in Victoria. It is possible that subsp. bidensis absent in Victoria, with the few specimens from Victoria being aberrant plants of subsp. leiostachya.
