Densely leafy perennial, with erect to scrambling, ± woody branches, 0.05-0.4 m tall. Leaves obscuring stems, sessile, triangular to ovate, dorsiventrally flattened and leathery, 2-8 x 1-4 mm. Flowers in ± sessile clusters arranged along stems, sessile, cup-shaped, petals 1-2 mm long, pale yellow-green to brown.
Sprawling, closely leafy perennial with woody stems, 10-50 cm. Leaves opposite, imbricate, ovate-triangular, fleshy. Flowers in sessile, axillary cymes, star-shaped, yellowish green, petals 1-2 mm long, sepals to two-thirds as long.
Perennials 0.l-0.4(-0.8) m high, with erect, decumbent or often scrambling branches, more or less branched, with internodes usually not visible between leaves, more or less woody, with old leaves usually remaining attached to branches. Leaves sessile, triangular to ovate, 2-8 x 1-4 mm, acute or obtuse, of equal length on whole plant, glabrous, more or less flat on both surfaces, fleshy and leathery, green, grey-green, yellowish green or brown. Inflorescence a thyrse with many usually sessile dichasia in axils of leaves, sometimes with a terminal proliferation of alternately flowering and vegetative nodes, with sessile 5-merous flowers. Calyx: lobes narrowly triangular, 0.8-1.5 mm long, usually half to two-thirds as long as petals, acute but not pointed, fleshy, green to brown. Corolla cup-shaped, scarcely fused basally, pale yellowish green to brown; lobes narrowly triangular, 1-2 mm long, sharply acute and more or less keeled, erect. Stamens with yellow anthers. Squamae oblong-cuneate, 0.2-0.3 x 0.04-0.1 mm, truncate oremarginate, at first abruptly, later gradually constricted downwards, almost membranous to fleshy, pale yellow or white. Seeds 2, released mainly through apical pore of follicle, rarely by basal circumscissile split.
A very variable species much enriched by horticultural forms so that only an attempt can be made to classify the wealth of material. C. muscosa is distinguished from C. lanceolata by its woody main stems at least at the base, the sepals which are usually less than two-thirds the length of the petals and the flowers which usually protrude above the subtending leaves. None of the four varieties is completely geographically or biologically isolated and some intermediates were recorded.
