Rhizome obliquely ascending, woody. Culms 30-60 cm tall, slender, rigid, trigonous, scabrous above, clothed at base with dark brown sheaths disintegrating into fibers. Leaves longer than culm, blades linear, 2-5 mm wide, rigid, revolute, upper margins scabrous, apex acuminate. Involucral bracts shortly bladed, sheathing. Spikes 3-5; terminal spike male, cylindric, ca. 2.2 cm, with long peduncles; lateral spikes androgynous, with male part 1/3-1/2 length of female part, cylindric, 2.5-4 cm, subdensely flowered, with short peduncles. Female glumes ferruginous, oblong-elliptic, green 3-veined costa excurrent into a scabrous awn. Utricles green, slightly longer than glume, obliquely patent, lanceolate-ovate, 6-7 mm (including beak), subleathery, glabrous, many veined, apex gradually tapering into a long (2.5-3 mm) beak, orifice deeply 2-lobed with long teeth. Nutlets tightly enveloped, ovate-elliptic, 3.5-4 mm (including beak), trigonous with angles constricted at middle, base with a short curved stipe, apex abruptly contracted into an erect beak 0.5-0.8 mm, beak expanding into an annulate orifice; style base hardly thickened; stigmas 3. Fl. and fr. Mar-May.