Cyperus leptocarpus

Slender annual. Culms smooth, 2–35 cm high, less than 1 mm diam. Leaves shorter than culms, 1–2 mm wide. Inflorescence of 1–4 ovoid spikes, each 2–8 mm long, 2–4 mm diam.; involucral bracts 2 or 3, spreading widely, to 12 cm long. Spikelet bract oblong-obovate, 1–1.7 mm long with excurved mucro 0.5–0.7 mm long, pale brown often tinged red-brown; hyaline scales 0.6–1 mm long, occasionally reduced or absent; stamens 1 or 2; anthers 0.2–0.4 mm long; style usually 2-fid. Nut subterete, very narrow-ellipsoid, pale brown, 0.7–1 mm long, c. 0.2 mm diam. Flowers spring–summer.