Plants annual to perennial herbs, spreading. Stems to 40 cm long, decumbent, glabrous. Leaves stipulate, simple, sessile; stipules membranous, filiform; blades to 15 mm long and 4 mm wide, cylindrical to obovate, fleshy. Inflorescences axillary, flowers solitary or in pairs. Flowers: sepals free or unied at the base, about 2 mm long, obovate; petals about 3 mm long, yellow; filaments with bifid basal scales; ovaries united, glabrous; styles solitary, about 1.5 mm long. Fruits capsules about 2.5 mm long and 2 mm wide, glabrous, deeply 5-lobed.
Tetraena simplex grows on coastal planes, dunes, and open places in deciduous bushland at elevations of 0-1080 m. It is a widespread species, known from regions N1-N3, C1-2, and S2 of the Flora of Somalia, Djibouti and Socotra, as well as other dry areas from Africa from west Asia to India.