Individual flowers are formed of a slender calyx tube, 1 inch long, flaring at its mouth into 5 white, petal-like lobes to make a tiny salver ¼ inch across. They have no true petals. Numerous such flowers are clustered to form the surface of a ball about 2 inches in diameter. Plant has reddish stems, somewhat hairy, that creep on the ground, with fleshy (succulent) green leaves arranged in opposite pairs. Grows in plains on sandy soil. Blooms May-June.

Every plains child knows the prairie snowball—inhabitant of vacant lots in towns, and of dry wind blown flats “in the country.” The cluster of starry flowers is indeed round as a snowball and as white—the dark green leaves are in sharp contrast with the bright red stems. The fragrance, almost cloying it is so sweet, perfumes the air of early summer, especially as evening coolness comes. The reddish-purple sand verbena of the southwestern deserts and coastal sand dunes, Abronia villosa, is also of this genus. The resemblances are quite apparent.