Dioecious, erect or straggling shrub with a rhizomatous rootstock up to 2.5m. Leaves are stalkless, overlapping, heart-shaped and toothed, glandular on lower surface, 5-10mm long and 5-10mm across; small flowers in axillary spikes.

Fruits are greyish and warty and covered with a coating of wax.

Plants grow socially and can cover large areas of coastal dunes where they act as an effective sand stabilizer.

The coating of the fruits of this species was used traditionally for making domestic candles and furniture polish. The process of obtaining wax was first noted by Carl Thunberg in 1772.