Schiedea salicaria, a member of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), is an erect subshrub or woody shrub 3 to 8 dm (11.8 to 31.5 in) tall with stems forming loose clumps and internodes 0.5 to 5 cm (0.2 to 2 in) long. Leaves are opposite, narrowly elliptic (broader at or above the middle) and have curved or curled back margins. The leaves are 1 or sometimes 3-nerved. The petioles (a leaf stalk that attaches the blade to the stem) are 0 to 0.3 cm (0 to 0.12 in) long. The purple tinged flowers are perfect (each of which has both male and female reproductive organs) or pistillate (unisexual and female) and arise in somewhat contracted cymes (broad class of determinate inflorescences characterized by having the terminal flower bloom first). The bracts (a specialized leaf from the axil of which a flower or flower stalk arises) of the inflorescence are sometimes purple tinged as well. The capsules are 4.5 to 5 mm (0.18 to 0.20 in) long and ovoid (egg-shaped). The seeds are 0.7 to 0.9 mm (0.02 to 0.03 in) long, orbicular-reniform (having the shape of a flat ring or disk-kidney-shaped), and the surface is papillose (covered with short, rounded, blunt projections).