It is sometimes known by the common name rounded noon-flower[1] It grows as a prostrate, succulent shrub or annual herb, from two to 30 centimetres high.

[3] In 1803, Adrian Hardy Haworth published M. clavellatum based on plants raised at Kew from seeds collected in Australia.

[5] In 1971 Robert Chinnock published a new species name, D. blackii, for some New Zealand material,[6] and five years later he transferred M. clavellatum to Disphyma.

[7] In the early 1980s, Hugh Francis Glen determined, on the basic of a multivariate analysis, that Disphyma was monotypic.

It grows in saline areas such as coastal dunes and samphire flats, and tolerates a range of soils including sand, loam and clay.