Its stem is fairly stout, lightly ribbed, and widely branched. The branches ascend and arise alternately from the primary stem or stems.
Leaves are simple, ashy green on top and slightly yellowish beneath, later they become much darker.
Like most of the rest of this plant, the leaves are covered throughout with hairs. The leaves are also leathery, strongly veined, somewhat clasping at the base, and rounded at their apex. Hairy rattleweed flowers in the summer from late June through much of July. The flowers are pedicellate, pedicels 1 to 5 millimeters long, the lowermost subtended by suborbicular, foliaceous bracts up to 1O millimeters long and 12 millimeters broad. The pod is quite hairy on the outside and closely pubescent on the inside.