Slender glab. herb up to 10 cm. tall, rooting from lowest nodes. Stems many, obscurely tetragonous; lvs opp., almost sessile, 3-10 mm. long, ovate, membr., margin cartilaginous with 4-5 incisures on each side. Infl. a terminal raceme from which bracts and bracteoles fall early leaving fls in opp. pairs. Fls reddish, drooping, c. 1·5 mm. long, strongly protandrous; sepals broadly triangular, = ovary; petals hooded, without hairs, > ovary; stamens 8; ovary 8-angled, globose, constricted below sepals; styles short, erect, cylindrical, stigmas of long multicellular hairs. Fr. dark red, c. 0·5 mm. long, with 8 vertical ribs, faces between ribs concave and smooth; pericarp not hardened, 1 loculus with us. 1 seed.