Taproots usually branched, deep, thick, brittle , internally white, covered with a thin blackish bark, contain much mucilage. Small broken pieces can generate new plants . Sepals fused at base, deeply lobed, covered with bristly hairs. Flower tubes 10-15 mm long, with 5 lanceolate appendages within the tube that alternate with 5 stamens. Style 1, with 1 stigma , persistent in fruit, attached to receptacle between ovary lobes.
Stamens mature before ovary.
Ovary superior, deeply 4-lobed. Calyx 2-4 mm long. Calyx 3-6 mm long. Nutlets ovoid, attached at the base, contain 1 seed but do not open. Typically grows on moist soils of open sites, waste places, fields, ditches, abandoned gardens.