glabrous; rhizome hardly any seen; stems 1–2 ft. long, tufted, somewhat stout, each with 1 head; sheaths scarious, torn, uppermost with a short setaceous leaf (up to 2 in. long), lower sheaths often with much longer setaceous leaves; bracts 3–4 or more, spreading, lowest 1–4 in. long, setaceous, usually much dilated orbicular and scarious at the base; head frequently 1/2 by 1/3 in., conical, evidently compound, dense, with numerous dark-brown spikelets, but there are numerous much smaller heads, some only 1/5 in. long with 3 spikelets; glumes ovate, acute, apiculate; anthers linear-oblong, with linear apiculation; nut half the length of the glume, narrowly ellipsoid, almost lanceolate, trigonous, top acutely pyramidal, black, with minute transverse and interrupted lines (owing to the outermost cells being short-oblong placed longitudinally); style much shorter than the nut, branches 3 linear, long; gynophore obpyramidal, yellow-brown, margin often with 3 obtuse triangular teeth. null
