Cyperus pulcher Thunb.

Perennial herb, ± tufted, 0.30-0.76 m high. Leaves with sheaths inner part thin-textured, splitting early and leaving frayed membranous margins; blades 6-8 mm wide, flat. Culm scapose, acutely 3-angled, 2.8-3.8 mm in diam. Inflorescence a compound anthela, 50-125 mm in diam., spikelets 3-5 in a digitate cluster. Subtending bracts 3-6, leaf-like. Spikelets ± compressed, ovate, 3-5 x 2 mm, 8-12-flowered. Glumes imbricate, boat-shaped, 1.5-1.8 mm long, keel excurrent into minute, ± recurved point. Flowering time Sept.-June. Nutlet broadly elliptical, 0.8 mm long, 3-angled, whitish to light brown, surface minutely reticulate.