Slender tufted annual with numerous stems and slender roots; stems 5–20 cm high and 0.2–0.5 mm thick, deeply ridged and densely set with short hairs; base of stem covered by very pale translucent old leaf-sheaths. Leaves 5–12 cm long and c. 0.2 mm wide, canaliculate and densely set with short hairs (0.1–0.2 mm long), but orifice and leaf-sheath with 2–3 mm long slender hairs; leaf-sheath very pale, transparent. Inflorescence a simple umbel-like anthela or spikelet solitary; major involucral bracts leafy, 5–15 mm long, densely hairy. Spikelets 4–8 x 2–3 mm. Glumes c. 3 mm long, reddish brown with a very distinct green midrib (distinctly protruding in the lower glumes, slightly or not protruding in the upper ones); short hairs present on margin, surface and midrib. Nutlet c. 1.3 x 1 mm, with a very distinctly cuneate base, white or pale brown; surface transversely undulate except for the 3 protruding tuberculate ribs; swollen base of the style either deciduous or persistent as a distinct brown knob.