Restio capensis (l. ex C.b.clarke) H.p.linder & C.R.Hardy

Plants tufted, often prostrate, 150-650 mm high; rhizomes and stolons absent, mats of sterile growth at base. Culms branched, warty, often with sterile branches at nodes on older culms, 0.5-1.5 mm in diam. Leaf sheaths flat or loosely wrapped around culms, persistent. Male and female inflorescences: 1 or 2 spikelets per culm; spathes absent. Spikelets compact, spiky, spindle-shaped, ± 10 mm long; male with 2-many flowers; female larger than male. Bracts with membranous margins and recurved awns. Female perianth: tepals bony, lateral sepals keeled. Ovary unilocular; styles 2, stylopodium present. Flowering time most months. Fruit a dehiscent capsule.