It is a dwarf annual halophyte with fleshy, apparently jointed stems and reduced leaves and flowers.

Microcnemum coralloides grows as a low annual herb of 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) height.

[3] The opposite leaves are fleshy small scales, connate in the lower part and cup-like stem-clasping.

Slight differences concerning height, succulence, branching, and coloration (the eastern subspecies is never purplish) are variable and seem to be influenced by seasonal fluctuations of rainfall and soil salinity.

[4] Microcnemum, together with the phylogenetic lineages of Sarcocornia/Salicornia and the Australian members (Tecticornia) of the subfamily Salicornioideae, probably evolved during the Mid Miocene at the shores of the Thetys Sea.

[4] Phylogenetic research indicates that Microcnemum coralloides originated in the East Mediterranean region, the split of the subspecies ranging from 2.8 to 0.5 million years ago.

coralloides seems to have evolved during cold periods of the Early Pleistocene, when lower sea level allowed westward migration along coastal saline lagoons.