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Perennial. Stems rather stout, smooth or retrorsely scabrid on the angles, (30-)70-100(-200) cm by up to 6 mm. Leaves rather abruptly narrowed to the obtusish tip, all scattered or the middle ones more or less approximate and the upper ones remote, scabrous on the margins and the main nerves in the upper part, glabrous or sparsely hairy, ¾-1½ cm wide; sheaths narrowly to broadly winged, glabrous, smooth or scabrid; contraligule rounded, with a scarious, elongate, lanceolate or oblong, glabrous, purplish, 1-1½ cm long appendage, usually 2-3 times as long as wide. Inflorescence very variable in shape, consisting of 2-3 lateral partial panicles and a terminal one, often confluent into a pyramidal, very dense, compound panicle, or the lateral partial panicles remote to very remote, ovoid to very long and narrow, spike-like; peduncles hardly to much exserted from the sheaths; primary bracts overtopping the inflorescence, secondary ones setaceous, rigid, long-exserted from the panicles. Spikelets unisexual, 2-3 together, 4-5 mm long; ♂ spikelets lanceolate; stamens 3; anthers linear, c. 2 mm long; ♀ spikelets ovate, with a sterile lateral glume (the vestigial ♂ part of the spikelet). Disk 3-lobed; lobes appressed, triangular, obtuse, sometimes denticulate at the top, pale ferrugineous. Nut ovoid or subglobose, obsoletely trigonous, umbonulate, slightly reticulate to undulate-rugulose, hirtellous on the transverse netted lines, finally glabrescent, shining, white or pale grey, 2⅓-2½ mm ø.
A sedge. It has a smooth stout stem. It is 3 sided. It grows 70-100 cm tall. The base of the stems and the roots are purple. The leaves narrow abruptly at the tip. The flowers have 2 or 3 partial flower groups and one at the end/
