Perennials. Roots fibrous. Stolons ± short. Culms laxly tufted, 12-15 cm tall, thin, obtusely 3-angled, base swollen into a tuber, leaved at basal part. Leaves shorter to longer than culm; leaf blade 2-4 mm wide, usually plicate. Involucral bracts 3-5, leaflike, longer than inflorescence, suberect. Inflorescence a simple anthela; rays 4-7, erect. Spikes oblong, 2-4 cm × 3-4 mm, with several to 10 or more spikelets. Spikelets laxly arranged, erect, linear, 5-12 × ca. 1 mm, 8-22-flowered; rachilla wings lanceolate. Glumes pale to brownish yellow but middle brown striate, densely imbricate, ovate, 1.5-2 mm, membranous, 3-5-veined, not keeled, apex obtuse to retuse. Stamens 3; anthers ellipsoid; connective slightly prominent beyond anthers. Style of medium length; stigmas 3, longer than style. Nutlet brown when mature, oblong, ca. 2/5 as long as subtending glume, 3-sided. Fl. and fr. Apr-May.

● Wet places by streams. S Yunnan (Xishuangbanna).