Herb, evergreen, dioecious, perennial, caespitose, forming large, dense tussocks to 30 cm across at base. Rhizomes short, erect or steeply ascending, bearing closely crowded culms and dark brown slightly glossy scales. Culms erect, straight, 50–150 cm tall, 1–2.2 mm diam., smooth or minutely rugose, with 3–5 internodes each 14–25 cm long. Cataphylls 5–20 mm long, ± flat in the upper half and not closely enwrapping the culms, with a mucro 1–2 mm long or a short awn to 4 mm long. Sheaths 20–30 mm long, green or brown, tapering gradually toward the apex, ciliate with stiff hairs 3–6 mm long, lax toward apex, with a curved black awn 8–10 mm long. Inflorescences with 7–9 spathes in male inflorescences, 4–7 in females; lateral branches of male inflorescences generally extending beyond the spathe, to 15 mm long. Spathes acute, rigid, 10–20 mm long, ciliate with stiff hairs, with a rigid curved awn 6–14 mm long.; each subtending a short, often branched axis with 1–3 flowers, of which 2 may develop fruit; spathes Male flowers: tepals hyaline, linear, sparsely ciliate at apex, acute, 6–7 mm long; filament column c. 9 mm long; anthers c. 3.5 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel 1.5–2.5 mm long; tepals rigid, deltoid, acute, sparsely ciliate toward apex; outer tepals (3–)5–8 mm long, with a slender black awn c. 4 mm long; inner tepals 5–6 mm long; style 8–10 mm long. Capsule depressed globular, 3-angled, 4–6 mm long, 6–8 mm diam. Seeds c. 2 mm diam., encircled in the median vertical plane by a narrow hyaline flange; the outer layer white, smooth, readily detached; the surface with fine short spines arising from the corners of minute concavities.
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