Plants densely cespitose. Rhizomes short, internodes 0.2–1(–8.5) mm. Culms 1–1.6 mm wide. Widest leaf blades 2.8–4.4 mm wide. Longest inflorescences 24–44(–53) mm. Perigynium beak 0.36–0.48 times as long as perigynium. 2n = 60, 62.

Fruiting spring. Mountain streamsides, seeps in deciduous forests, rarely mountain bogs; (400–)800–1400 m; N.C., S.C., Va.

Carex bromoides subsp. montana is endemic to the southeastern portion of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province.