Small perennial, erect or reclining, to 45 cm high. Leaves rigid, 25-50 mm long, 0.6-1.1 mm wide; apex needle-like or acuminate, black, varnished; margins smooth or minutely scabrous; leaf-base margins widening to sheath, pale straw to medium brown, with coarse tangled hairs. Scapes 10-24 cm long, some jointed near base and shed annually, others without joint and persistent; head 10-16 mm long, 12-20 mm wide, with 18-30 flowers. Outer bracts of involucre 3-6, the longest 7-12 mm, smooth, the wings entire, notched or laciniate; inner bracts 3-6, keeled, pale brown, straw or white, with black, needle-like or mucronate apex. Floral bracts imbricate, white or straw-yellow; apex acute, brown-black. Perianth lobes linear. Anthers eglandular. Testa rugose, tuberculate.
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