Stems: slender, much branched. Flowers: the staminate and pistillate on separate plants, borne on terminal peduncle-like joints. Fruit: a fleshy, flattened berry borne on a short recurved peduncle.

This fleshy plant is parasitic on Pinns contorta var. Mnrrayana. It has four-angled much-jointed branches, and small scales in the place of leaves. The tiny flowers are yellowish-green and the fruit is a purplish-brown berry.