Elegia microcarpa (Kunth) Moline & H.P.Linder

Plants mat-forming, small, 0.1-0.3 m high; rhizomes long and slender. Culms branched, solitary at nodes, round or solid or with a small central cavity, smooth or finely rugulose; clusters of sterile branches absent. Leaf sheaths > 1 per culm, persistent, loosely convolute, with short erect mucro. Male inflorescences with 21-100 spikelets; spathes caducous, taller than spikelets, cartilaginous. Female inflorescences with 6-20 spikelets; spathes shorter than or as long as or longer than spikelets, persistent, cartilaginous. Ovary trilocular; styles 2, plumose, bases free. Flowering time Apr.-July. Fruit a dehiscent capsule.