Glabrous, dioecious perennial, generally somewhat reddish, sometimes ± hoary, often with an extensive system of slender, branching, yellow rhizomes with adventitious buds; flowering stems erect, c. 3-30 cm tall. Petiole slender, on lower lvs sometimes much > lamina. Lamina c. 1.5-5 × 0.2-2 cm, linear-oblong, lanceolate to elliptic, sour to taste, usually with a pair of lanceolate basal lobes at ± right angles to rachis, sometimes with a secondary lobe, or often entire in cauline lvs; apex obtuse to acute. Infl. usually reddish, sometimes yellowish, to c. 20 cm long, with slender branches, leafless or nearly so. Fls fascicled, on slender pedicels. Perianth of ♂ fls 1-2 mm long; margin hyaline. Outer perianth of ♀ fls 0.5-0.8 mm long, not reflexing; valves 1.2-1.5 mm long, entire, not tuberculate, not enlarging at fruiting, usually ± crimson, sometimes yellowish; margins acute. Nut 1.2-1.6 mm long, shining brown, obtusely angled.