Slender perennial with ± long rhizome. Culms usually solitary, trigonous to subterete below, smooth, with bases occasionally somewhat bulbous, 20–60 cm high, 1.2–3 mm diam. Leaves occasionally septate-nodulose, shorter than to exceeding culms, to 4 mm wide. Inflorescence simple to compound, with 3–7 primary branches to 11 cm long; clusters spicate to subdigitate, dense, hemispherical to globose, to 2.5 cm diam.; involucral bracts leaf-like, 1–3 about twice as long as inflorescence. Spikelets flattened, numerous per cluster, 6–15 mm long, 2.5–4 mm wide in side view, 6–12-flowered; rachilla unwinged to broadly winged; glume spacing 1.2–1.8 mm; spikelet falling as unit, or rachilla persistent; glumes retuse to acute with mucro to 0.5 mm long, with 2–4-nerved sides, red-brown, 2.6–4 mm long; stamens 3; style 3-fid. Nut trigonous, narrow-obovoid to narrow-ellipsoid, yellow-brown, c. three-quarters as long as glume, 1.8–2.2 mm long, 0.6–0.8 mm diam. Flowers spring–summer.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, EGL, EGU, HNF. Also SA, NSW. Widespread but uncommon (e.g. near Kerang, Horsham, Benalla, Seymour, Walwa and sandy banks of the Snowy River from the NSW border to near its mouth).
