Herb, evergreen, dioecious, perennial, forming large dense clumps to 1 m across. Rhizome horizontal or ascending, short, stout, to 6 cm long, 3–8 mm diam., covered by the fibrous remains of weathered leaf bases and imbricate scales. Leaves linear, 35–65 cm long; sheathing base 4–14 cm long, reddish brown when young, becoming dark brown; lamina thick, rigid, grey-green, the margins smooth. Flowering stems erect, compressed 20–105 cm long, 1.5–5 mm wide, the margins smooth. Inflorescences erect, 5.5–10 cm long with up to 200 subsessile flowers crowded on short erect branches. Spathes subtending the inflorescence and major inflorescence branches caducous, linear, 5.5–6.3 cm long, c. 0.5 cm broad, keeled, herbaceous-scarious, green tinged reddish brown, with a short equitant lamina, 2–6 mm long. Upper bracts persistent, broad deltoid, reddish brown, membranous, acute. Male flowers: tepals 6, oblong-lanceolate, reddish brown, scarious-membranous, flat, obtuse to acuminate; outer tepals slightly shorter than inner, 2.5–3 mm long; inner tepals 3–3.5 mm long; filaments 2.2–3 mm long; anthers exserted, 2.5–3 mm long. Female flowers: tepals 6; inner and outer tepals equal in length, 2.2–2.5 mm long, remaining scarious in fruiting stage; style branches 3, stout, exceeding tepals, strongly recurved. Capsule c. 2.5 mm long and broad.
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