Herbs, perennial, cespitose, 50--150 cm. Stems compact. Leaves ascending in narrow fans, (19--)30--50(--60) cm; sheaths pinkish or pale red, soft, smooth; blade pale green proximally, distally deep lustrous green, linear, flattened, plane, 5--15 mm wide, margins smooth. Inflorescences: scape sheaths exceeded by leaves; scapes linear, straight, distally slightly compressed, 1--2 mm wide, smooth, 2-ribbed; spikes ovoid to ellipsoid or cylindric, 10--20(--25) mm, apex usually blunt; fertile bracts 5--8 mm, margins entire, apex rounded. Flowers: lateral sepals slightly to conspicuously exserted, slightly curved, 6--8 mm, keel scarious, apex not red, broad, thin, lacerate; petals unfolding in afternoon, blade obovate, 5--6 mm; staminodes bearded. Seeds translucent, narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, (0.6--)0.7(--0.8 mm), irregularly ridged and cross-ridged. 2n = 18.
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Lvs linear, mostly (20–)30–50(–60) cm × 5–15 mm, deep lustrous green, flat or nearly so, usually anthocyanic at the dilated, thin, soft, keeled base; scapes 5–15 dm, smooth, terete and with very low ridges below, 1–2-ridged and somewhat flattened distally; spikes 1–2(–2.5) cm at maturity, ellipsoid or narrowly ovoid; lateral sep ± exserted distally, the keel broad, thin, lacerate toward the tip; pet-blades yellow, obovate, 5–6 mm, unfolding in the afternoon; 2n=18. Wet low ground, especially near the coast; Me. to Fla. and Miss. Early summer–fall. (X. congdonii)
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