stems closely cæspitose on a very short, or obsolete, rhizome, 8–30 in. long; leaves short, 4–8 in. long, or hardly any, hairy or glabrate, 1/10 in. broad or usually less; umbel compound or simple, usually of 5–15 pedicelled spikelets, sometimes of 1 spikelet; bracts 3–2, usually short, occasionally as long as the umbel; spikelets 1/3 by 1/8– 1/6 in., ovoid, rusty-brown; glumes round-backed, ovate, nearly always minutely pubescent in the upper half of the back; stamens 3–2; style longer than the nut, hairy, branches 2, rather short; nut scarcely 1/2 the length of the glume, biconvex, obovoid, smooth, pale brown, not, or very obscurely, longitudinally ribbed. null