Schoenus lepidosperma

Perennial, tufted or with short rhizome. Culms erect to lax, rigid, terete, deeply grooved, nodeless, 10–60 cm high, 0.3–1.2 mm diam. Leaves with blade to 0.4 cm long; sheath partly red-brown, partly straw-coloured, smooth to striate, ± shining; mouth glabrous; ligule present. Inflorescence of 1(–3) spikelets, c. 2 cm long; lowest involucral bract 0.1–0.2 cm long. Spikelets narrow-ovate, acute, 1–3-flowered, 8–22 mm long; glumes 5–8, lowest 3–5 empty, acute, straw-coloured to red-brown or blackish, evenly coloured or patchy, ± shining, with margins usually ciliate at apex and glabrous below; fertile glumes 8–16 mm long; hypogynous bristles 6, scale-like, shorter than nut. Nut ± cylindric, with stipe, not or scarcely 3-ribbed, smooth or finely reticulate, glabrous, dull to glistening, whitish to very dark brown to blackish, 3.1–5 mm long, 1.8–2.5 mm diam.