Environmental Description:  This association is known from the Colorado Plateau west into the Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert and in the panhandle of Texas. It is an alkaline dwarf-shrub association that occurs primarily on sandsheets, slopes and plains often on eolian deposits near canyon walls and in alkaline flats in and around playas and along washes. Sites are gentle to steep (up to 40% slope) and occur between 800 and 1770 m (2620-5800) feet elevation. Soils are rapidly drained loamy sands from alluvium derived from a mixture of rocks such as granodiorite, quartzite, latite, limestone and basalt in southern Nevada (Faden 1977), and sandy loams derived from Navajo and Entrada sandstones in southeastern Utah that have eroded and been redeposited by wind and water. It occurs in areas with low to high levels of soil salinity and alkalinity.

In Texas, this community occurs on shallow soils on ridges and on footslopes along the Canadian River. In general, the soils are redbed-derived and shallow in nature. It would seem that this shrub is able to grow on a variety of soils but prefers the more shallow, rocky areas. It is often found growing in association with other shrubs but may grow alone in small colonies. When this community is found, it is never extensive and rarely occupies more than a third of an acre. There is usually some evidence of deer browsing on this species, and in areas where it is accessible, domestic livestock will browse it as well.