2n = 88

Caespitose. Culms (10)–20–60 cm. × c. 1 mm., glab.; basal bracts dull brown to reddish brown. Lvs 4–8 per culm, = or > culms, 3–5 mm.wide, scabrid on the margins. Spikes 7–16 cm. × 6–10 mm., us. bracteate, female fls c. 60–100, very closely crowded throughout almost the whole spike, internodes 0.5–4 mm. long. Glumes twice as long as utricles, deciduous, linear-subulate, acute or obtuse, coriac., yellowish or ferruginous. Utricles 4–5 × c. 1.5 mm., plano-convex or rarely subtrigonous, dark brown, shining, nerved towards the base with a more strongly marked lateral nerve, sharply contracted below to a stipe 1 mm. long and above to a stout beak 1.5–2 mm. long.