Japan Flora: Fleshy, usually reddish annual, 10-30 cm. high, the branches opposite, erect; leaves scalelike, small, connate at the base in a short tube; spikes 1-5 cm. long, 3-4 mm. across, terete, joints about 3 mm. long, the perianth rhomboid-ovoid, small. Aug.-Oct. Saline marshes;
Hokkaido, Honshu (n. distr.), Shikoku; rare southward. Wet saline places especially along seashores in the temperate regions of the N. Hemisphere.