Plants not cespitose. Culms acutely angled, 15–90 cm, scabrous. Leaves: basal sheaths red-brown; sheaths of proximal leaves with blades, backs glabrous, fronts with pale brown spots, veinless, glabrous, apex U-shaped, membranous, colorless; blades 3–6 mm wide. Inflorescences: proximal bract subequal to inflorescence, 2–4 mm wide. Spikes: erect; proximal 2–3 spikes pistillate, 1.5–3.5 cm × 4–6 mm, base obtuse; terminal 1–2 spikes staminate. Pistillate scales red-brown, longer than perigynia, apex acute or acuminate, awnless. Perigynia divergent, olive-brown with red-brown spots on apical 1/2, veinless, inflated, loosely enclosing achenes, obovoid, 2.5–2.8 × 1.5–2 mm, dull, apex rounded, papillose; beak green, 0.1–0.3 mm. Achenes not constricted, dull. 2n = 54.