-Family, Buckwheat. Leaves, small, sessile, blue-green, less than 1 inch long, narrow. Sheaths silvery, membranous. Corolla, none. Calyx, green, bordered with pink. Flowers, very small, in axillary clusters. Summer.

There is a puzzling variety among the species of this genus, some of which are common weeds; others, rarer, aspire to prettiness. Many of them frequent wet places and are found along roadsides. This one is smooth, much jointed, prostrate, slender. Very common.