Perennial with a rather stout taproot. Leaves all basal, ± erect, narrow-elliptic, 8.5–23 cm long (including petiole which ± equals lamina), (0.4–) 1–2 cm wide, 3(–5) nerved, thin-textured, pilose with spreading hairs, entire or usually with a few teeth (the teeth from shallow and very obtuse to prominent, retrorse and acute), the apex acute or obtuse, the base tapering very gradually to the slender petiole, the axil with inconspicuous pale brown hairs. Scapes 9–30 cm long, 0.6–l.8 mm diam., with an indumentum of soft short hairs spreading throughout or appressed on the upper half. Spikes (2–) 5–10 cm long, the lower flowers usually widely spaced in' fruiting stage. Bracts narrow-elliptic or narrow-deltoid, 1.8–2.5 mm long, 0.7–1.5 mm wide, keeled, the thickened central zone c. 1/2 the total width, green or purplish, pilose or glabrous abaxially, the margins ciliate. Sepals broad elliptic, 2.6–4 mm long, 1.4–1.6 mm wide, keeled, the thickened and usually pilose central zone c. 1/4 of the total width, green or purplish, the margins ciliate. Corolla: tube 2.6–3.8 mm long; lobes ovate-deltoid 1.6–2.5 mm long. Stamens: filaments c. 4.5 mm long, anthers 1.4–1.6 mm long. Ovules 5. Capsule ovoid-conical, pale, mostly obtuse with a short mucro, 2.8–3.5 mm long, 1.3–2.0 mm broad, the upper deciduous portion 2.2–2.6 mm long. Seeds yellow-brown ellipsoidal, 1–1.5 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm broad, biconvex or flattened adaxially, the apical ovule commonly developing but often only a single seed in each of the lower loculi.
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