Cattle may be also be poisoned. Livestock readily graze mature, dried halogeton and most losses occur when hungry animals are allowed to graze in heavy stands of halogeton. It grows from 0.1 to 1 m tall depending on the moisture available during the growing season. Each plant generally has five main stems that come directly from the base of the plant.
Young plants have round, fleshy leaves that grow in little bunches along the stem.
It has a characteristic small hair about one mm long on the end of each leaf. During drought the stems develop a reddish tinge. The toxic substance in halogeton is sodium oxalate, which is contained in leaves and other above-ground parts. Halogeton is dangerous at all times. It becomes more toxic as the growing season advances, reaching a peak of toxicity at maturity.