Rhizome short. Culms tufted, 30-80 cm tall, slightly stiff, smooth, with red-brown sheaths at base. Leaves subequaling or shorter than culm, blades linear, 3-5 mm wide, flat, margins revolute. Involucral bracts leaflike, surpassing inflorescence. Spikes 3-5; terminal spike male, occasionally with several female flowers at apex, narrowly cylindric, 20-30 mm, with slender peduncle; lateral spikes female, sometimes with male flowers at apex, cylindric, 20-40 × 5-6 mm, with slender peduncles 1.5-3 cm, pendent. Female glumes densely ferruginous flecked, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2.8-3 mm, membranous, green 3-veined costa excurrent into a mucro. Utricles equaling or slightly longer than glume, oblong-ovate, ca. 2.5 × 2 mm, densely papillose and red-brown glandular, veined, base broadly cuneate, apex abruptly contracted into a short beak, orifice emarginate. Nutlets yellowish brown, slightly loosely enveloped, broadly ovate, biconvex, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm; stigmas 2. Fl. and fr. Mar-Jun.
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Closely related to 52. C. phacota Spreng., from which it is distinguished by the following characters: Glumes lanceolate or elliptic, acute to obtusish (but not truncate-emarginate), muticous or (the lower ones) excurrent in a short awn up to 1 mm long. Utricles slightly larger, 3-4 mm long, dorsally slenderly 2-5-nerved, ventrally 1-3-nerved, the glandular papillae usually whitish. Spikelets more approximate, fastigiate, and suberect to subcernu-ous, 0.75-5.5 cm long. Leaves greyish green to glaucous, 2-6 mm wide; sheaths not splitting into fibres.
Swamps, damp grassy places, along streams, 1500-2500 m.