Herb, monoecious, male and female flowers in the same inflorescence, either in separate clusters or mixed; perennial, glabrous, caespitose or with short horizontal rhizomes. Cataphylls ovate to oblong, 1–3 cm long. Culms erect, scrambling or trailing, terete, flexuose, forming large tangled tussocks up to 2 m long, 0.5–3 mm diam., repeatedly branched, the branches becoming thinner and more flexuose, smooth; lowest internode 3–5 cm long; internodes 5–10 cm through much of the stem, decreasing to c. 0.5 mm on some branch apices. Sheaths persistent, to 3.5 cm long, mostly loose, truncate; lamina erect or reflexed, 1.0–3.5 mm long; margin hyaline, scarious, caducous. Inflorescence to c. 30 cm long; branches elongated, often flexuose, with flowers mostly in small dense clusters widely-spaced on the branches; spathes similar to sheaths but smaller; lamina reflexed; floral bracts 2, much shorter than the flowers, ovate, acuminate, 1.1–2.0 mm long, acuminate. Male flowers: tepals lanceolate, acute, purplish-brown; outer tepals 1.8–3.3 mm long, keeled, slightly shorter than the flatter inner tepals; anthers 1.7–2.0 mm long. Female flowers: tepals similar or slightly longer than males, yellow-brown. Seeds ellipsoidal, smooth, c. 1 mm long, not distinctly colliculate, the surface with a fine network of low patent plates.
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