Succulent perennial from a thick, fleshy rootstock; stems one to several, 2-23 cm tall; leaves sessile, alternate, coriaceous, glabrous and glaucous, obovate to oblanceolate, margins entire to sparsely dentate, 1.5-3 cm long and 4-7 mm wide; inflorescence a terminal, dense, flat-topped to somewhat rounded cyme; sepals 4-5, lanceolate, about 2 mm long; petals distinct, about 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, acute, yellow with reddish midvein, occasionally red in the upper half; stamens longer than the petals; fruit of 5 distinct follicles, 4-8 mm long, with recurved stylar beaks. Flowers late July through August.