Rhizome short or shortly creeping (thick) woody. Stems tufted, erect, trigonous or triquetrous, smooth or sparsely scabrid on the angles, especially above, 15-175 cm by 0.5-4 mm below, surrounded below the leaves by brown to purplish brown bladeless sheaths or their fibrous remains. Leaves basal and subbasal, rarely spaced throughout the stem, shorter than to exceeding the stem, flattish, rather stiff, scabrid or smooth on the margins, asperous towards the long acuminate apex, (2-)3-16 mm wide; sheaths often dark nerved, hispidulous or puberulous at the mouth. Inflorescence usually consisting of 2-7 fascicles, or spikelets single, binate or ternate at each node; the fascicles formed by single spikelets (2-14 spikelets in the whole inflorescence), or by up to 20 panicles (in the whole inflorescence); the panicles consist of a very lax raceme of up to 10 secondary spikelets, each secondary spikelet subtended by a whether or not sheathing glumiform, often long awned bractlet, and surrounded at the base by an ocreiform cladoprophyll. The lower fascicles or spikelets distant, on long exserted smooth peduncles, the higher approximate. Lower bracts foliaceous, long sheathing, the sheaths often ampliate; higher bracts much reduced, when glumiform the inflorescence is terminated by a seemingly more compound panicle. Spikelets androgynous, cylindric, but the male part tapering, up to 10 in each panicle, the female part mostly lax flowered, from much shorter to longer than the male part, 3-8 mm thick. Glumes oblong to ovate or lanceolate acute to obtuse or acuminate, glabrous or hispidulous, nerved, light or red brown, or whitish to fulvous, usually with whitish hyaline margins, 2.5-7 mm long, the midrib just below the apex apiculate or excurrent into an up to 5 mm long awn. Utricles trigonous, oblong to narrowly ellipsoid, or obovoid, 5-9.5 by 1-2 1/3 mm, sub-erect to patulous, straight or obliquely bent at the apex, many-nerved, hispidulous, shortly stipitate or sessile, subabruptly beaked or gradually narrowed, beak bidentate, often with oblique mouth, 1.5-3 mm long. Nut trigonous with flat to slightly concave faces, ellipsoid to oblong ellipsoid or obovoid, shortly stipitate and beaked, 3-4 mm long. Style-base slightly thickened. Stigmas 3.
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Rhizome stout, woody. Culms central, 30-120 cm tall, ca. 2 mm thick near base, trigonous, with several nodes, clothed at base with shortly bladed or bladeless dark purple-red sheaths disintegrating into fibers. Leaves basal or cauline, some overtopping culm, blades broadly linear, 4-12 mm wide, stiff, flattish, leathery; cauline leaves rather long, sheathing, dark brown, membranous, pale greenish and black-brown veined abaxially. Lower involucral bracts leaflike, longer than inflorescence, long sheathing, upper involucral bracts glumelike. Inflorescence an interrupted panicle, 30-40 cm, with 3-6 partial panicles, partial panicles 2-5 cm, lower ones single or binate, upper ones binate or occasionally ternate, each bearing 3-7 sessile spikes, lower ones with long peduncles; spikes bisexual, androgynous, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-3 cm, male part 1/3-1/2 length of spike. Female glumes pale or slightly brown, broadly ovate to oblong, 2.2-4.5 mm, membranous, 1-veined costa excurrent into a short awn 1-1.5 mm, apex acute to subobtuse. Utricles longer than glume, obovate-elliptic or ovate-fusiform, trigonous, 4.5-6 mm, herbaceous, hispidulous above, many veined, gradually tapering at both ends, beak conic, 1-2 mm, hispidulous or glabrescent, obliquely truncate at hardly 2-toothed orifice. Nutlets dark brown, tightly enveloped, obovate-elliptic, trigonous, 2.5-3 mm, faces concave; style erect, sparsely hispidulous, base slightly thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.
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