Short stolons covered with lanceolate, brown, striate scales sometimes present. Leaves subcoriaceous or coriaceous, linear, slightly narrowed towards the conduplicate base, very gradually narrowed up-wards to the very slender, triquetrous, aculeate-scabrous tip, with the midnerve prominent beneath and some lateral nerves somewhat prominent above, with aculeate-scabrous margins throughout their length, glaucous, up to 90 cm by 5-10 mm; sheaths stramineous to brownish. Scapes lateral, from the caudex below the leaves, very slender, obtusely trigonous to terete, striate-sulcate, smooth, up to 20 cm by 1-2 mm, the base clothed with some loose, striate scales up to 5 cm long. Inflorescence capitate, when in flower seemingly consisting of a single spikelet, ovoid to subglobose, containing 3-5 very densely packed spikelets, 10-13 mm long. Bracts few, coriaceous, concave, ovate or elliptic, acutish, many-nerved, with broad, scarious, brownish puncticulate-lineolate margins, 9-13 mm long. Spikelets at first sight hardly distinct from one another, somewhat extending beyond the bracts, ellipsoid. stramineous, 5-10 by 2-4 mm. Glumes thinly membranous, pellucid, oblong, obtuse, indistinctly 1-nerved, brownish puncticulate-lineolate at the top, 5-8 mm long. Flowers as long as the glumes; keel of the outermost scales minutely ciliolate at the top. Anthers c. 4 mm. Style 3-cleft. Nut obovoid-pyriform, slightly rugulose, greyish brown, shortly stipitate (stipe ½ mm), acuminate, shortly beaked, c. 3 by 1½−2 mm.
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