Its shrubs are mostly dioecious and low spreading, often 5 to 10 times more wide than tall.  The bark is spongy, soft and white.  The leaves are persistent and sessile and are located opposite of each other proximally and alternate distally.  The leaf itself is either linear to linear-oblanceolate or oblong and is rounded at the apex.  The male staminate flowers are noticeable since they are yellow to brownish in color and grow in clusters.  The female pistillate flowers are distinguishable with leafy fruiting bracts at the base of the flower. 

This is the only perennial that can tolerate high saline environments.  The plant prefers to grow on finely textured saline soil, up to 13,000 ppm soluble salts.  Because of this, it is a great contributor to preventing erosion in the areas where it grows.  This plant is sometimes found forming intermediates with Atriplex Confertifolia and A. gardneri var. cuneata.  It also functions as a browse plant, one location in the sparsely vegetated clays and silts of eastern Utah.  It can also recover from serious grazing and is a valuable winter forage for wildlife and livestock

These are endemics of the Colorado Plateau and Uintah Basin and are found on the Mancos shale formations in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.  They like to grow at an elevation between 1200 and 2100 meters.