Japan Flora: Rhizomes tufted; culms 40-60 cm. long, nodding above; leafblades rather flat, 2-3.5 mm. wide, the basal sheaths brown; spikes numerous, dense, androgynous, 2- to 5-nate, linear, loosely flowered, peduncles often sparsely branching, the lower bracts leaflike, sheathing; pistillate scales narrowly oblong, acuminate, ferrugineous; perigynia nearly as long as the scales, 35-4 mm. long, erect, elliptic, faintly nerved, minutely hispidulous on the margins, rather long-beaked, with a minutely 2-toothed hyaline tip; stigmas persistent, very slender and much-elongate, 6-8 mm. long. Aug.-Oct. Wet rocks along ravines and streams.
Honshu (s. Kinki and Chugoku Distr.), Shikoku, Kyushu; locally abundant. s. Korea and China to India and Malaysia.