Japan Flora: Rhizomes short-creeping with very short internodes; culms terete, inconspicu­ously striate, 25-60 cm. long; leaves few, basal, scalelike, brownish, lustrous; inflorescence pseudohtera】，many-flowered, the lowest bract stemlike, appearing like a continuation of the culm, 10-20 cm. long; flowers many, solitary, 2-2.5 mm. long inclusive of the capsule, light green; perianth-segments equal in length, acute; stamens 3, slightly shorter than the perianth, the anthers slightly shorter than the filaments; capsules ovoid or ellipsoidal, brownish; seeds obliquely obovoid, 0.5 mm. long. Aug.-Oct. Wet places in lowlands and mountains.

Hok­kaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; very common and rather variable. Ussuri, China, Korea and N. America.