The species of Kalidium grow as subshrubs or low shrubs.

The alternate leaves are fleshy, glabrous, stem-clasping and decurrent, nearly orbicular to semiterete, their free blades 0.5–12 mm long.

[1] The pedunculate inflorescences are spike-like, with alternate scale-like free bracts.

Towards the apex, the perianth is widened, flattened, and furnished with a wing-like margin.

[1][2] The plants are halophytes and grow in saline mudflats, on alkaline soils, at margins of alluvial fans, and at the shores of salt lakes.