Cyperus brevifolius

Slender perennial with long slender rhizome. Culms solitary, triquetrous, smooth, 5–40 cm high, 0.7–1.5 mm diam. Leaves not septate-nodulose, shorter than culms, 1–3 mm wide. Inflorescence head-like, ovoid or subglobose, 4–10 mm long, 3–7 mm diam., rarely with 1 or 2 small subsidiary heads; involucral bracts leaf-like, 2–5 longer than inflorescence. Spikelets flattened, sometimes exceeding 100 per head, 2–4 mm long, c. 1 mm wide in side view, 1(–2)-flowered, falling as a unit; glumes short-mucronate, with toothed or occasionally smooth keel, sides 2–3-nerved, whitish to pale brown, 1–4 mm long; stamens 1(–3). Nut biconvex, obovate to elliptic, yellow-brown, 1–1.5 mm long, 0.5–0.7 mm wide Flowers spring–summer.