Herb, dioecious glabrous perennial, forming large or small dense tussocks or diffuse patches to 50 cm across. Rhizomes c. 5 mm diam. Cataphylls red-brown, scarious, extending 2–5 cm up the culm. Culms closely spaced, erect, terete, 50–85 cm long, 0.9–1.6 mm diam., smooth to slightly rugose, simple with branched inflorescence; lowest internode short (2–5 cm) and sometimes hidden by cataphylls. Sheaths (3–) 4–5, persistent, 0.8–3.2 cm long, loose, lax or recurved, usually with inrolled margins, red-to dull-brown, obtuse to truncate; lamina erect, 2.3–6 mm long, longer on young plants. Inflorescence 1.5–13 cm long; branches 1.5–4 cm long and moderately crowded with flowers, lower branches spaced further apart on the culm, upper branches more clustered; spathes exceeding branches, 1.7–3 cm long; floral bracts 2, cuspidate. Male flowers: tepals rigid, yellow-brown, lanceolate; outer tepals 3.8–4.3 mm long; inner tepals 3.2–3.5 mm long; filaments 1.8–2.0 mm long; anthers 1.7–2.0 mm long. Female flowers: tepals similar to males; outer tepals 3.5–4.2 mm long; inner tepals 2.5–4.0 mm long. Seeds ellipsoidal, c. 1.2 mm long, colliculate with large lobed convex cells.
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