It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in desert and mountain scrub and woodland, often on limestone substrates.

It is a broomlike shrub growing erect to a maximum height near 1.2 meters.

Its branching stems are white to gray in color and rough-haired.

The thick, curling, concave leaves are oval in shape, pointed or rounded at the tip, and up to about 1.5 centimeters long.

The inflorescence is a narrow panicle of many flowers with five rough greenish sepals and five thin white petals a few millimeters long.