Elegia asperiflora Kunth

Plants clumped, mat-forming or tangled, 0.3-0.5 m high; rhizomes very short. Culms unbranched, round or compressed, solid or with a small central cavity; clusters of sterile branches absent. Leaf sheaths > 1 per culm, sometimes dropping off, with short erect mucro. Male inflorescences with 21-500 spikelets; spathes persistent, taller than spikelets, cartilaginous. Female inflorescences with 2-10 spikelets, spathes longer than spikelets, obscuring spikelet, cartilaginous. Ovary unilocular; styles 3, white. Flowering time Nov.-Mar. Fruit an indehiscent nut, triangular in cross section, brown; elaiosome absent.