Juncus phaeocarpus A. M. Lu & Z. Y. Zhang.

Plants perennial, 25--60 cm tall. Rhizome creeping. Stems terete, 1.5--4 mm in diam., striate. Basal leaves 1--3, cauline leaves 1(or 2); leaf sheath auricles well developed, obtuse, free part ca. 3 mm; leaf blade 7--40 cm, laterally compressed, septate, apex acute. Inflorescences sparingly branched; involucral bract leaflike, 2--20 cm, septate; heads (2--)6--8, hemispheric, 1.2--1.7 cm in diam., 6--10(--12)-flowered; bracts 3--5, broadly ovate to lanceolate, apex acute. Pedicels 1.5--3 mm or sometimes flowers subsessile. Perianth segments straw-colored, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate; outer segments 4.1--7.5 × 1--2 mm; inner segments 4.1--6.7 × ca. 1 mm, apex acuminate. Stamens 6; filaments chestnut brown, 3--4.5 mm; anthers 1--3 mm. Ovary 3-septate. Style ca. 3 mm. Capsule chestnut brown, shiny, broadly trigonous ovoid, apex beaked; beak ca. 2 mm. Seeds sawdustlike, ca. 1 mm, both ends appendaged; appendages 0.8--1 mm. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep.

Valley forest margins, grassy slopes, wet places near ravines and in mountainous regions; 2700--3700 m. Xizang [Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sikkim].