Culms to 400 cm × 4 mm, scabrous. Leaves: sheath fronts spotted red-brown, plane, apex truncate or concave; ligule rounded, to 1 mm, free limb to 0.2 mm; blades 15 cm × 5 mm, shorter than flowering stem. Inflorescences loosely paniculate, 4–10 cm × 7–15 mm, the proximal branches distinctly separate; bracts scalelike, dilated with wide hyaline edges and prominent midvein; the proximal bracts setaceous, prolonged to 10–15 mm. Scales hyaline, pale brown with prominent white-hyaline margins, apex acute or obtuse. Perigynia yellow-brown to dark brown, 5–11-veined abaxially, occasionally 3–5-veined adaxially, body ovate, 3–3.6 × 1.2–1.6 mm, base rounded or cordate, conspicuous corky tissue distending the perigynium; beak chestnut brown, 0.6–1.5 mm, apex white-hyaline, deeply bidentate. Achenes brown, ovate, 1.5 × 1 mm.