Robust tufted perennial, with short, stout rhizome. Culms terete, erect, smooth, 55–100 cm high (to 250 cm outside Victoria), 1.5–2.5 mm diam. Leaves shorter than culms, to 5 mm wide; sheaths green to yellow-brown, persisting as fibrous remains. Inflorescence oblong to ovate in outline, c. 7 cm long, with rather drooping branches. Spikelets 5–8(–11) mm long; glumes obtuse, mucronate, glabrous, red-brown, with prominent usually green midrib, c. 1.8(–2.5) mm long; anthers 0.6–0.8 mm long, excluding apical appendage to 0.1 mm long. Nut obovoid, planoconvex or with a distinct dorsal angle, glistening, minutely pitted, pale yellow-brown, 0.8–1.5 mm long, 0.6–0.8 mm diam. Flowers spring.
VVP. Native to North America. The only Victorian (and Australian) occurrence of this species was in the swampy verge of a domestic water-holding basin at Hamilton. Since its discovery in 1979, steps have been taken to eradicate the plant from the area and it may now no longer occur in the State.
Source:
Wilson, K.L. (1994). Cyperaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 238–356. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
