Perennial with short, woody rhizome clothed with the remains of decayed leaf-sheaths. Stems tufted, rigid, angular-sulcate, often scabrid-pilose just below the inflorescence, otherwise glabrous and smooth, 20-50 cm by ½-1 mm. Leaves much shorter than the stems (often scarcely ¼ as long), basal except for one somewhat higher on the stem, rather stiff, flat, exactly linear, abruptly pointed, glabrous, or pubes-cent especially beneath, scabrid at the top, (1-)2-4 mm wide; ligule absent. Inflorescence compound to supradecompound, loose, with several to very numer-ous spikelets, up to 10 cm long. Involucral bracts 3-5, very short, glabrous or pilose, dilated at the base, the lowest rarely up to 3 cm. Primary rays suberect, rigid, glabrous or pilose, up to 7 cm. Spikelets solitary, lanceolate, strongly compressed, acute, 3-10-flowered, 5-10 by 2-2½ mm; rachilla broadly winged. Glumes distichous, subchartaceous, obliquely erect, lanceolate, gradually acuminate, prominently keeled, 1-nerved, scabrid by very short, stiffish hairs, fulvous, with broad, glabrous, whitish hyaline margins, 4-6½ by 2-2½ mm. Stamens 3; anthers linear, 1½-2 mm. Style very slender, triquetrous, pyramidally thickened at the base, gla-brous, 4-6 mm; stigmas 3, much shorter than the style. Nut trigonous with convex sides, obovoid, cuneate at the base, shortly stipitate, umbonulate, densely verruculose, whitish to brownish, 9/10-l by 3/5-5/6 mm; epidermal cells isodiametric.
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