Annual (?), glabrous except for the glumes. Stems densely tufted, very slender, often setaceous, angular, smooth, or scabrid at the top, 15-65 cm by ½-1(-2) mm. Leaves basal, usually much shorter than the stems, flat but narrow, rather abruptly acuminate, with scabrid margins, 1-2½ mm wide; ligule absent; lower sheaths stramineous or ferrugineous. Inflorescence simple, sometimes head-like, consisting of 1-7 small clusters of spikelets, 1-2 cm across. Involucral bracts (1-)2-3, very short, the longest ½-1(-2) cm. Rays erect to patent, often curved, compressed, smooth, up to 2 cm long. Spikelets 3-8 to each cluster, sessile, globose to ovoid or ellipsoid, slightly angular, obtuse, 10-15-flowered, dark brown, 2-3 by 1½ mm; rachilla narrowly winged. Glumes spiral, membranous, ovate or sub-orbicular, very obtuse, more or less emarginate-bilobed at the apex, mucronulate from the sinus, keeled, with prominent midrib, nerveless, gland-dotted sides, and densely ciliate margins, 1¼-1½ by 1-1¼ mm. Stamens 1(-2); anthers oblong-linear, ½-⅔ mm long. Style triquetrous, abruptly bulbously or pyramidally thickened in the lower ⅓-½, glabrous, ½-¾ mm long; stigmas 3, about as long as the style. Nut very obtusely trigonous, obovoid, shortly stipitate, inconspicuously umbonulate, verru-culose (see Note), whitish to stramineous, 7/10-9/10 by ½-7/10 mm; epidermal cells isodiametric, roundish or hexagonal.
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Perennials, rhizomatous. Culms tufted, 15-60 cm tall, 0.2-1.5 mm thick, 3-angled, smooth to scabrid. Leaves basal, few; sheath pale hyaline to light brown, 1.5-4 cm, apex oblique; ligule absent; leaf blade filiform, 10-30 cm × 0.3-0.5 mm, margin ± incurved, apex obtuse. Involucral bracts 1-3, glumelike or setaceous, basalmost 0.5-2 cm. Inflorescence a simple anthela or capitate, 5-20 × 5-8 mm; rays (when present) to 2 cm. Spikelets 3-12 per inflorescence, in clusters of 2-8, ellipsoid, 2.2-3.5 × 1.5-2 mm. Glumes 10-15 per spikelet, spirally imbricate, brown, broadly ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.7-1.3 mm, densely gland-dotted, apically fimbriate ciliate, 3-veined forming an abaxial obtusely angled pale brown keel, margin membranous with a pale hyaline edge, apex rounded-truncate to shallowly emarginate and mucronulate. Stamens 1 or 2; anthers ca. 0.5 mm. Stigmas 3. Nutlet cream-colored, obovoid, 0.7-0.9 × 0.5-0.7 mm, 3-sided, verruculose. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.
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