Glabrous. Rhizome creeping, divided, up to 6 in. long in dried examples. Stems 1–3 ft. long, medium-sized, triquetrous, rough on the angles. Leaves nearly as long as the stem, 1/4 in. broad. Inflorescence 2 by 1/2 in., a dense little-interrupted oblong panicle; lowest bract shorter than the panicle, often only 1/2 in. long, not sheathing. Spikes 1/4 by 1/5 in., dense, female at the base, some male at the top. Female glumes 1/10 in. long. ovate-triangular, not acuminate, a rich brown, keel yellow. Utricle 1/10 in. long, sessile, ovoid-triangular, hardly beaked, plano-convex, glabrous, straw-yellow, without nerves on the plane face, obscurely 2–3-nerved on the convex face; beak deeply split on the convex face, margins scabrous; style-branches 2, linear.
