Plants 20-40 cm tall. Stem erect, terete, stout, rigid; lowest branches ascending, upper ones obliquely spreading. Leaves linear, 2-4 cm × ca. 2 mm, 1-veined, base attenuate, apex acuminate, mucronate. Spikelike inflorescence clavate, slightly curved, crowded, usually 30-50 × 6-10 cm; bracts lanceolate to broadly ovate, 1-3-veined, base rounded, margin broadly membranous, apex acute or acuminate. Perianth segments 3, upper one oblong or suborbicular, 1-1.5 mm, apex rounded, irregularly denticulate, lower segments triangular, smaller, sometimes obscure. Stamens 5, longer than perianth. Utricle orbicular or suborbicular, 3-4.5 × 3-4.3 mm, base cordate, apex obtuse-emarginate; wing lighter colored than body, ca. 1 mm wide, margin entire; beak ca. 1 mm, apex ca. 1/3 as long as beak. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

Plants traditionally assigned to Corispermum confertum intergrade with C. elongatum. Consequently, the former species has been treated as a synonym of the latter in most recent treatments of the genus. We agree with this opinion, but at present prefer to leave these two taxa separated until a new, comprehensive treatment of C. subsect. Pallasiana Mosyakin is available. This subsection houses several closely related, Far Eastern, Siberian, North American, and partly C Asian taxa, one of which, C. pallasii Steven (C. leptopterum (Ascherson) Iljin; C. sibiricum Iljin subsp. baicalense Iljin), is widely naturalized in Europe and native or naturalized in North America. Other, related Asian taxa, such as C. bardunovii Popov ex Lomonosova, C. elongatum, C. sibiricum, C. stauntonii, and some others, may also be treated in the future as infraspecific entities (subspecies or varieties) under C. pallasii s.l.

Sandy places, dunes. Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning [Russia (Far East)].