Herb, dioecious, caespitose, perennial, often with some development of short densely intertwined horizontal rhizomes to 2.5 cm long, c. 3 mm diam.; cluster and sand-binding roots present. Cataphylls short, pale brown, to 15 mm long. Culms unbranched but with clusters of 5–8 branchlets at most nodes, erect, terete to semi-terete, often longitudinally furrowed, minutely tuberculate, sparsely villous, to 40 cm high, 1.0–1.7 mm diam., internodes 6–9; branchlets straight, 5–9 cm long, laterally flattened and rectangular in cross section. Sheaths broad-obovate, 7–18 mm long, sparsely villous; lamina erect, 2–7 mm long. Male spikelets borne singly, terminal on branchlets, elliptic, 7.0–9.5 mm long, 14–20-flowered; glumes 14–21, ovate-lanceolate, 2.8–4.5 mm long, membranous, glabrous, acute, mucro 0.6–1.5 mm long. Female spikelets borne singly, terminal on branchlets as long in fruiting stage as sterile branchlets, ellipsoid, 8.0–9.3 mm long, 1-flowered; glumes 4 or 5, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 3.5–7.0 mm long, dark brown, glabrous, mucro to 1.0 mm long; the uppermost glume reduced, lanceolate. Male flowers: tepals 5, linear-lanceolate, ± equal in length, 2.7–4.2 mm long, acute; anthers exserted, 1.3–1.9 mm long. Female flowers: tepals (0 or 1–) 2 (–3), narrow-linear, 2.0–4.5 mm long; ovary unilocular, style 1, mostly stigmatic. Nut oblong, 1.5–1.8 mm long, brown with pale lateral lines, on a stipe 1 mm long; the lower part containing the loculus striated, dark brown with 2 pale lateral lines corresponding to the carpel magins; the upper part a solid blunt conical beak, not striate, almost as long as the lower part. Culm anatomy: chlorenchyma continuous, of a single layer of elongated peg cells.
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