Plants caespitose, 15-25 cm tall, culm bases aggregated. Culms solid, terete, branching, to 0.7 mm in diam., densely and irregularly tuberculate. Sheaths closely convoluted, 10-15 mm long, body brown, coriaceous, obtuse, about 2/3 of the total sheath length, with a very slender awn to 6 mm long, but soon decaying and two acute, membranous shoulders about 4 mm tall. Older sheaths decayed, only the coriaceous brown part persistent. Male inflorescence of 2-7 very lax, 2-3-flowered, 3-4 mm long spikelets. Spathe 4-5 mm long, chartaceous, the apical half membranous, acute, decaying. Bracts all fertile, 1.5-2 mm long, acute, chartaceous, membranous margins decaying, about half as tall as the perianth. Flowers very shortly stipitate, perianth 2-2.5 mm long. Sepals cartilaginous, subacute to rounded, 2-2.5 mm long; lateral sepals deeply concave, carinate, glabrous; odd sepal shallowly concave. Petals membranous, rounded, marginally smaller than the odd sepal. Anthers exserted at anthesis. Pistillode minute. Female inflorescence like the male, spikelets 1-2-flowered. Bracts about four, with the lower bracts sterile, about 1.5 mm long, obtuse. Flowers pedicellate, perianth 2.5-3 mm long. Sepals cartilaginous, subacute to rounded, 2.3-3 mm long; lateral sepals deeply concave, glabrous, carinate; odd sepal shallowly concave. Petals chartaceous, obtuse to rounded, 2 mm long. Staminodes about 1 mm long. Ovary with 1-2 fertile locules. Styles three, free to the base, about 2 mm long, densely villous. Fruit a capsule, seed 1.2 mm long, rather obscurely colliculate.