Perennial with adventitious roots. Leaves rosetted, ground-hugging, ovate to obovate, 3–11 cm long, 1–4.5 cm wide, obtuse, pubescent to tomentose, more densely so below, axils with tufts of long golden-brown hairs, conspicuously 5(–9)-veined, margins entire or obscurely toothed; petiole indistinct. Spike cylindric, 10–many-flowered, 3–10 cm long; peduncles 10–20 cm long, pubescent; bracts ovate-elliptic, 2–3 mm long, obtuse, glabrous except for ciliate margins and apex. Sepals elliptic, 1.5–2.5 mm long, subequal; corolla-tube 1.5–2.5 mm long, lobes 0.5–1 mm long, spreading or reflexed; anthers 0.6–1.2 mm long, exserted. Capsule broad-ovoid, 2.5–3.5 mm long; seeds 4, narrow-elliptic, 1–1.8 mm long, brown. Flowers Dec.–Feb.
CVU, HNF, VAlp. Also NSW. In Victoria confined to high-altitude parts of the east: e.g. Bogong High Plains, Dargo High Plains, Mts Buffalo and Buller and the Snowy Plains. Locally common in alpine and subalpine grassland or herbfield.
