[2] It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in sandy and scrubby habitat.

It is a rounded or spreading, clumpy subshrub made up of many rough-haired stems approaching one meter in maximum height.

The stems are lined with clasping leaves varying in shape from lance-shaped to triangular to oval and sometimes toothed.

The inflorescence at the end of the stem is a small, crowded raceme of several flowers.

The white flower appears tubular, its petals fused near the spreading tips but open lower, the stamens emerging from outside the corolla.