It is native to central and southern California where it can occasionally be found along the immediate coastline, and the Channel Islands.

Its distribution extended historically into the western edges of the Mojave Desert and Baja California and it may still exist there.

This is a plant of saline and alkaline soils, such as those on dry lakebeds and ephemeral vernal pools.

[2] This is a small annual herb producing whitish scaly prostrate stems less than 20 centimeters long.

The flowers, both male and female types, are generally borne in hard clusters.