Perennials or subshrubs; (woody base aboveground); (glaucous), glabrous throughout. Stems several from base, erect or ascending, branched (several) distally, 2-5.5(-10) dm. Basal leaves absent. Cauline leaves sessile; blade linear and undivided or pinnately lobed (lobes 3-7(-9), linear), (1.5-)2.2-8.4(-10.2) cm × (0.7-)1-2.8(-4.2) mm, base attenuate, not auriculate, margins entire, (similar, smaller distally). Racemes (panicles), elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate-ascending to horizontal, usually straight, rarely slightly curved, (terete), (3.5-)4.3-7.6 (-8.5) × 0.15-0.2 mm. Flowers: sepals obovate, 1.5-2.5 (-3) × 1-1.6 mm; petals white, spatulate, 2.5-4.2 × 1.5-2.2 mm, claw 1-2 mm; stamens 6; filaments 1.8-3 mm; anthers 0.4-0.7 mm. Fruits obovate to orbicular, (4-)4.5-7(-8) × 4.2-7(-8) mm, apically winged, apical notch (0.1-)0.2-0.5 mm deep; valves thin, smooth, not veined; style 0.2-0.8(-1) mm, exserted beyond apical notch. Seeds ovate, 1.6-2.1 × 0.9-1.1 mm. 2n = 32. Flowering Mar-Jun. Desert shrub communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands, sandy washes, gravelly deserts, barren knolls, bluffs, roadsides, steep limestone outcrops, rocky ledges and slopes; 400-2100 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah. Rollins established var. stipitatum on the basis of fruits obovate with gynophores 0.5-0.75 mm versus (var. fremontii) fruits orbicular to ovate and sessile. These two characters often do not covary and stipitate fruits occur sporadically throughout the species range, including Arizona (Lemmon s.n., GH), California (Morefield 3427, GH), and Nevada (Comanor 18, GH; Hitchcock 3078, GH).

Plant: Perennial, generally shrubby, 4-10 dm, glabrous, gray; stem many-branched Leaves: basal and cauline; 3-10 cm, linear, generally pinnately lobed; lobes 3-9, 1-3 mm wide; upper 2-3 mm wide, entire or not; cauline short-petioled to sessile, sometimes clasping or surrounding stem INFLORESCENCE: raceme, many-branched, ± leafy Flowers: small, bisexual; sepals 4, free; petals ± 3 mm, obovate to spoon-shaped, white, claw slender; stamens generally (2,4)6, generally 4 long, 2 short; ovary 1, superior, chambers generally 2, septum membranous, connecting 2 parietal placentas, style 1, stigma simple or 2-lobed Fruit: capsule with 2 thin deciduous valves, 5-8 mm; veins faint, dehiscent, oblong to elliptic or obcordate, flat perpendicular to septum; Seeds 1 per chamber, gelatinous when wetted; wing narrow or 0; embryonic root at back of 1 cotyledon, rarely at edges of both Misc: Sandy washes, barren knolls, gravelly soils, rocky slopes, ridges; < 1600 m.