Distribution: Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California east to Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and Texas; widely distributed in eastern North America.

Habitat: Disturbed soil and wasteland.

Flowers: April-May

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, wasps

Glabrous and glaucous annual, the stems erect, fleshy, dichotomously branched, 3-10 dm. tall.

Leaves opposite, numerous, narrowly oblong, 6-12 cm. long and sessile near the stem base; leaves broadened upward on the stem, becoming ovate.

Flowers tiny, monoecious, borne in axillary involucres; staminate flowers numerous, naked, each consisting of a single stamen; pistillate flower single and terminal in the involucre; involucre about 3 mm. long, purplish, bearing 4 glands with short, rounded horns.

Capsule globose, coarsely wrinkled, 5-10 mm. long, separating into three 1-seeded segments.