Tufted, often spreading annual, us. white-pubescent in all its parts. Culms 3–16–(20) cm. × c. 0.5 mm., ∞, flaccid. Lvs us. < culms, filiform; sheaths much broader, light brown. Infl. us. a compound umbel, 1–4 cm. long, occ. reduced to a few spikelets only; subtending bracts 3–4, lf-like, 1–2 often > umbel. Spikelets 3.5–5–(7) mm. long, us. stalked, pale brown. Glumes ∞, elliptic, with a prominent, rigid, green, scabrid keel, often forming an excurrent mucro, and often recurved in the lowermost glume of a spikelet. Stamens us. 1. Style 2-fid, the bulbous base ringed with fine cilia hanging downwards over the ovary, not quite reaching to the mid-point. Nut slightly < 1 mm. long, c. 0.5 mm. diam., biconvex, orbicular, smooth, cream.