Tecticornia nitida

Low, rounded subshrub, to c. 40 cm high, 70 cm diam. Articles of ultimate branchlets glossy, cylindric to obovoid, 1–5 mm long; lobes shortly acuminate, margins entire to crenulate. Spikes terminal, to c. 4 cm long; opposite bracts united, margins crenulate; flowers free, shortly exposed at apex; perianth dorsiventrally compressed, narrowly winged toward apex. Fruiting spike with rather distant bract pairs; perianth and pericarp papery; seed flattened-ovoid, c. 1 mm long, readily released from perianth at maturity, testa thin, pale brown, granular in several rows on dorsal ridge, otherwise almost smooth. Flowers mainly May–Aug.