During the growing season the branches are covered in small flat to scooplike alternate leaves of 1-2.5(-4.2) cm × 1.5-6(-10) mm, with green oval-shaped leaf blades and often with whitish tips.

Male flowers comprise 4(-5) perianth lobes of 1.5–2 mm, equaling or a bit longer than the 4-5 stamens, with filaments shorter than the anthers.

They become bright pink to red-tinged, yellowish green, or whitish, making the plant one of the more colorful shrubs in the springtime habitat.

[3] The shrub sheds its leaves and flowers by the summer in hot or dry areas and becomes a woody gray thicket; it is evergreen in some regions.

Grayia spinosa is widely distributed across the Western United States and is native in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.