It is native to Eurasia and it is present in the American southwest as an introduced species and sometimes a weed in sandy, disturbed habitat types.

It is an annual herb forming a brambly clump of intricately branched, prostrate to erect stems growing up to a meter long.

The reddish stems are lined with yellow-green, thready, fleshy, or needlelike, spine-tipped leaves a few millimeters to three centimeters long.

The flower is surrounded by a disclike array of wide, winged sepals which are whitish at the tips and pinkish at the bases.

Kali paulsenii is named for the Danish botanist and explorer Ove Paulsen.