Juncus sphaerocephalus K. F. Wu, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 32: 453. 1994, not Salzmann ex Pouzolz (1826).

Plants perennial, tufted, 35--50 cm tall. Stems terete, 1--2 mm in diam. Cataphylls 1 or 2. Basal leaves 1 or 2, cauline leaves 1 or 2; leaf sheath auricles rounded; leaf blade 5--18 cm × 0.6--1.5 mm, shorter than stem, perfectly septate. Inflorescences terminal, much branched and compound; involucral bract leaflike, 2.5--5.2 cm; heads many, globose, 7--10 mm in diam., 15--30-flowered. Perianth segments lanceolate, 3--3.5 × less than 1 mm, equal, veins 3, center papery, margin hyaline, apex acute. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 0.5 mm, 1/3--1/2 as long as filaments. Capsule chestnut brown, shiny, trigonous ovoid, 2.5--3 mm, 1-loculed, apex mucronate. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 0.4 mm, reticulate. Fl. Aug--Sep, fr. Sep--Oct.

* Wet places; ca. 1200 m. Yunnan.