Tecticornia pterygosperma subsp. pterygosperma

Spreading shrub to c. 70 cm high and 3 m wide or more. Articles of ultimate branchlets obovoid, dull, often glaucous, 2–5 mm long; lobes rounded to obtuse, margins entire. Spikes terminal, to 3 cm long, often prolific; opposite bracts united, sometimes only at base, margins membranous, undulate; flowers free or shortly fused near base; perianth truncate or rounded at apex. Fruiting perianth glossy, pale brown, membranous to thinly cartilaginous, somewhat inflated, the triads conspicuous between the shrivelled bracts, pericarp membranous; seed ovoid, c. 1.5 mm long, usually falling enclosed in perianth at maturity, testa white to pale fawn, forming high longitudinal concentric corrugated ribs.  Flowers mainly Nov.–Mar.