Eriocaulon pygmaeum Sm.

Herb 4.5–20 cm high. Leaves linear, 0.6–3.5 cm long, 0.7–3 mm wide, 3–5-nerved. Peduncle 4–13 cm long, with 4–6 ribs. Sheath 9–20 mm long. Flower heads hemispherical, globular or cylindrical, 1.8–7 mm long, 2.5–6 mm wide. Involucral bracts hyaline, obovate, 1.1–1.5 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, obtuse, glabrous, strongly reflexed at maturity. Floral bracts hyaline to black, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate to spathulate, 1.2–1.9 mm long, 0.4–0.8 mm wide, acute to acuminate, glabrous. Receptacle densely pilose, convex to conical. Male flowers 0.85–1.3 mm long; sepals 1–3, free or fused at base or in a spathe which is deeply 3-lobed, hyaline or rarely black, linear, 0.62–1.1 mm long, 0.1–0.4 mm wide, acute, glabrous; petals 3 but often obscure, hyaline, acute, glabrous; stamens 6; anthers black. Female flowers: sepals 2 or 3 but all perianth parts easily deciduous, hyaline or black, equal or dimorphic if 3; laterals elliptic or navicular and geniculate, lacking dorsal keel or wing or dorsally keeled, 0.6–1.1 mm long, 0.06–0.2 mm wide, acuminate, glabrous; median sepal linear, 0.45–0.9 mm long, c. 0.1 mm wide, acute, glabrous; petals 0–3, hyaline, equal, linear, 0.6–1.2 mm long, 0.06–0.07 mm wide, acuminate, pubescent with apical fringe of white hairs or glabrous; ovary 3-locular. Seeds 0.2–0.3 mm long, 0.175–0.225 mm wide; epidermal cells with even wall thickenings.

Grows in damp sand along watercourses in grass–sedge swamps, Melaleuca woodlands and seepage areas. Typically associated with sandstone but one specimen from Queensland noted on granite.