Annual or perennial herb; stems ± erect, 0.5-1.5-(2) m tall, glabrous, glandular-punctate; roots fairly stout. Lvs on main stem and branches similar; petioles 3-15-(20) mm long. Lamina 4-15 × 1-4 cm, lanceolate to narrow-ovate, yellowish green or deep green, finely glandular-punctate below; margins ciliolate and ± undulate; veins beneath and midrib above with very short, ± appressed hairs; base cuneate; apex ± acuminate. Ochreae to 2.5 cm long, truncate, with fringing bristles, usually with very short appressed hairs, sometimes uppermost glabrous, at upper nodes rather tightly appressed to stem. Racemes slender, spike-like, to c. 10 cm long, usually at least partly curving downwards, the lower fls usually distant; pedicels soon > bracts. Perianth 2-3 mm long, accrescent, prominently dotted with brownish glands, white or pale greenish; segments ± broad-elliptic, strongly imbricate. Nut 2.5-3.5 mm long, biconvex or unequally trigonous, shining, finely granular, dark brown.