It is native to much of the southwestern and central United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in scrub and woodland habitat in desert and plateau regions.

This is a mat- or clump-forming reddish-green plant with a crooked, creeping, hairless stem.

The leaves are rounded, oval, or spade-shaped, smooth along the edges and generally coming to a point, and not much more than one centimeter in maximum length.

The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium with white-edged, scalloped appendages surrounding the actual flowers.

The ovary of the pistillate flower enlarges into a lobed fruit about 2 millimeters long.