Perennial with creeping rhizome; stolons slender, rather short, up to 5 cm, covered with lanceolate, reddish brown, striate sheaths, forming small tubers. Stems slender, almost terete in the lower part, gradually becoming trigonous upwards, somewhat incrassate at the base, rigid, smooth, 50-80 cm by 1½-2 mm. Leaves few, up to 3, very short, rarely half as long as the stems, weak, gradually acuminate, scaberulous at the triquetrous top, ½-12 cm by c. 2 mm; lower sheaths stramineous to purplish. Inflorescence small, simple, usually thrown to one side by the erect lowermost bract, with short rays or reduced to a single spike, 2-5 cm long and wide. Involucral bracts much shorter than the inflorescence when leaves short, exceeding the inflorescence when leaves longish, erect or suberect, ½-6 cm, embracing the stem with minute, dark brown, scarious auricles. Primary rays filiform, erect or suberect, with few spike-lets, 2-3 cm. Spikelets spicately arranged, obliquely erect to patent, linear, strongly compressed, up to 26-flowered, 1-2(-2½)cm by 2-2½ mm; rachilla rather flexuous, broadly winged, persistent; internodes c. ¾ mm; wings whitish hyaline, long-persistent. Glumes membranous, erecto-patent, ovate, obtuse, muticous, 2¾ by 1½(-2) mm, ½ imbricate; keel green, 3-nerved; sides faintly 3-4-nerved, stramineous, tinged with red; upper margin narrowly banded with brown. Stamens 3; anthers linear, c. 1½ mm; connective shortly produced, smooth. Stigmas 3. Nut trigonous, slightly obovoid to ellipsoid, broadly stipitate, shortly apiculate, brown, 1¼-1½ by c. ½ mm.
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