Rhizome creeping, woody. Stems solitary or somewhat tufted, erect, triquetrous, smooth, 25-100 cm by 1-2 mm, surrounded below the leaves by dark reddish, entire or fibrous remains of old leaf-sheaths. Leaves basal and 1-2 on the stem proper, shorter than to equalling the stem, flattish with often strongly revolute margins, stiff, coriaceous, with scabrid margins, asperous above especially towards the long-attenuated apex, 3-8 mm wide; sheaths of the lower leaves reddish to blackish red, upper ones pale. Inflorescence a lax to dense panicle, 15-50 cm long, consisting of 4-7 fascicles of up to 20 spikelets, lower fascicles rather distant, upper approximate. Bracts of the lower fascicles foliaceous, equalling or exceeding their fascicles but usually much exceeded by the whole inflorescence, long-sheathing, upper much reduced; sheaths ampliate, glabrous, the mouth often prolonged into a short tongue. Spikelets erect or somewhat nodding, slenderly cylindric, lax-to rather dense-flowered, up to 6 cm long, simple or longest ones sometimes branched into 1-3 short secondary spikelets, on slender, smooth peduncles more or less exserted from the sheaths; 1-2 spikelets of uppermost fascicle (sometimes of all the fascicles) male, remaining ones wholly female or with a few male flowers at the top; male spikelets 1-2 mm thick, female 3-5 mm. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous, fulvous to dark reddish with wide whitish-hyaline margins, 3-4¾ mm long, the midrib often excurrent in a smooth or hispidulous awn up to 1 mm long. Utricles trigonous, narrowly ellipsoid, tapering at both ends, glabrous but the margins often hispidulous, nerveless or faintly nerved (except for the marginal or submarginal nerves), suberect to patulous, often somewhat recurved, long-stipitate, stipe (0.5-)0.75-1 mm, subabruptly beaked, blackish red to golden, 4-6.5 by 4/5-1 mm; beak almost linear, sparsely hispidulous-margined, bidenticulate, (1-)2-3 mm long. Nut triquetrous with flattish faces, ellipsoid, brown, 1¾-2 mm long. Style not or scarcely thickened at the base. Stigmas 3.
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