Herb, dioecious, rhizomatous, perennial, forming patches to 50 cm across. Rhizomes stout, 2–4 mm diam.; scales brown to red-brown, appressed partly covering a pale woolly pubescence. Culms often dimorphic, widely spaced on the rhizome, to 10 cm apart, initially erect but flexuose distally, usually much branched, terete or compressed, 10–40 cm long, 1.0–1.4 mm diam., smooth or striate, grey-green, glabrous or pubescent towards the base; branches terete or compressed, flexuose, often barren; internodes numerous, 2.0–4.5 cm long; vegetative culms when present short, slender, highly branched, sinuous. Sheaths spreading in the upper half, 0.5–1.0 cm long, red-brown becoming black, apex obtuse to truncate, shortly ciliate; lamina short, c. 1 mm long; membranous margin narrow. Inflorescence: spikelets terminal or axillary on numerous flexuose branches; spathes similar to sheaths. Male spikelets ovoid, 5–10 mm long, 2–5 mm wide. Female spikelets ovoid, 4–5 mm long, c. 1 mm wide. Male glumes 16–20, all fertile or the lowest glume sterile, elliptic, brown, glabrous, acute to obtuse, 2.5–3.5 mm long; lower glumes apical margin very shortly ciliate. Female glumes: up to 2 sterile lower and 1–3 fertile upper glumes, similar to males, 3.5–4.3 mm long. Male flowers: tepals 5, narrow-lanceolate, acute, brown, membranous, 2.3–3.2 mm long; outer tepals keeled, sparsely pubescent; inner tepals flat, glabrous; stamens 3; filaments 2.8–3.0 mm long; anthers c. 1.2 mm long. Female flowers: tepals 5 or 6, similar to males, 2.7–3.6 mm long; staminodes 3; only 1 carpel developing, style unbranched, mostly stigmatic. Capsule unilocular, oblong to ovoid, 2.0–2.8 mm long, smooth, brown. Seed ovoid, c. 1.5 mm long, colliculate with longitudinal lines of convex cells and a network of narrow ridges. Culm anatomy: chlorenchyma interrupted by pillar cells.
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