Stems leafless, or with 1–3 leaves toward base, 5–50 cm, glandular below inflorescence, glands dome-shaped to conical, 1/2–2 times longer than wide, rarely glandular-pubescent with coarse cylindrical hairs. Leaf blades to 30 cm × 6 mm. Inflorescences forming cylindric-ovate spikelike heads, 3–30-flowered, sometimes interrupted or open, 1–6.5 cm, glandular-pubescent; bracts subtending pedicel in cluster; bracteoles forming ascending, truncate, or shallowly 3-lobed involucre around pedicel, lobes spreading, occasionally cleft from proximal 1/3 to base, narrow, usually glabrous, margins usually entire or nearly so, apex rounded to acute. Flowers borne in clusters of 3, proximal sometimes remote; perianth white or yellowish; tepals 3.8–5 mm, inner series slightly longer; stamens 2.8–4 mm; ovary ellipsoid, tapering gradually to style base; styles distinct, 0.6–1.5 mm; pedicel 1–9 mm. Capsules ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 3.5–7.5 mm, clearly longer than tepals and not enclosed by them, chartaceous, easily ruptured. Seeds reddish brown, ca. 1 mm; appendages 2, one at each end of seed, one contorted, 1–4 times longer than seed, other at opposite end, much shorter; coat absent.
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