Plants densely cespitose; rhizomes arching, short. Culms trigonous, 10–40 cm, scabrous proximal to inflorescence. Leaves: basal sheaths gray-brown; distal leaf sheaths concave at mouth; blades 6–9 × 0.4–0.5 mm, much shorter than culms at flowering and fruiting. Inflorescences: spikelets 15–20-flowered, 5.4–8 × 2.2–3.5 mm; bracts equaling or shorter than spikelets, 4.5–7.8 mm, apex mucronate or awned, awn to 3 mm. Spikelets: scales yellow-brown, apex obtuse. Flowers: perianth bristles 6, white, flattened, exceeding achenes by as much as 20 times, smooth; anthers 1.1–1.6 mm. Achenes plano-convex, 1.2–1.6 × 0.5–0.8 mm. 2n = 58.