The woody stems at the base are jointed and have sterile, rounded or conical shaped buds, arranged in whorls on the terminal part of each portion.

In Iran and Pakistan, it grows in the muddy coastal swamps immediately inland from the mangroves (Avicennia marina) that border the coast of the Persian Gulf.

[3] In Abu Dhabi it grows in lagoons with muddy substrates in association with Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, and along the storm ridges of shelly sand that form higher up the beach.

[5] In northwestern China in the provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu, it is one of the dominant plants on saline plains, on the shores of salt lakes and at the edges of alluvial fans.

[6] Along with glasswort and A. macrostachyum, H. strobilaceum was one of the first plants to recolonise oil-polluted marshland in the Persian Gulf after the soil had been churned up and aerated by the action of crabs.