Japan Flora: Rhizomes short; culms 15-40 cm. long; leaves shorter than the culm, 0.7-1 mm. wide, glabrous; spike­let terminal, solitary, very rarely 2, ovoid, more or less com­pressed, lustrous, 8-15 mm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, with 1 or 2 scaly bracts at base; scales 2-ranked or finally partially sub­spiral owing to the torsion of the rachilla, pale or grayish stramineous, somewhat coriaceous, broadly ovate, 4-6 mm. long, acute and mucronate, glabrous, keeled, indistinctly 3-nerved; achenes 2.5-3 mm. long, pale, broadly obovate, coarsely verrucose; antliers 1.5-2 mm. long.  Sept.

Honshu (Sagami and Kii Prov.), Kyushu. s. Korea, Formosa, China, India, Malaysia, Australia, and Africa.