Carex caricina (D. Don) Ghildyal & U. C. Bhattacharyya; C. filicina var. meiogyna (Nees) Strachey; C. filicina subsp. pseudofilicina (Hayata) T. Koyama; C. filicina var. subdensa F. T. Wang & Tang; C. meiogyna Nees; C. pseudofilicina Hayata; Cyperus caricinus D. Don.

Rhizome thick, woody. Culms densely tufted, 40-90 × 0.2-0.25 cm, sharply trigonous, glabrous. Leaves longer or rarely shorter than culms, flat, 5-14 mm wide, scabrid abaxially or glabrous on both surfaces; persistent sheaths purplish red or purplish brown, fibriform. Involucral bracts leafy, longer than inflorescence branches, long sheathed. Panicle compound, 20-50 cm, 4-8-branched; inflorescence branches single, rarely binate, triangular-ovate, 4-15 × 3-7 cm; peduncles of inflorescence branches tenuous, trigonous, lowest one 10-20 cm, upper ones gradually shorter, loosely hairy on edges; inflorescence axes sharply trigonous, hairy; bractlets glumelike, 2-3 mm, apex long awned. Spikes numerous, bisexual, androgynous, arising from cladoprophylls, patent or slightly patent, oblong or oblong-cylindric, 5-15 mm, terminal one 8-20 mm; male part of spike shorter than female part, 3-7-flowered; female part 2-16-flowered; male glumes brown or reddish brown, lanceolate, 2-3 mm, membranous, apex acuminate; female glumes brown, reddish brown, or pale brown with reddish brown spots and short lines, ovate or lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm, membranous, glabrous, with 1 midrib, apex acuminate or acute. Utricles with lower part yellowish white and upper part brown or reddish brown, or wholly pale brown with reddish brown spots and short lines, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, trigonous, ca. 3 mm, membranous, glabrous, with 2 lateral veins and several fine veins abaxially, subsessile, apex contracted into long excurved beak, beak ca. 1/2 length of utricle, orifice obliquely truncate. Nutlets yellowish brown at maturity, elliptic, trigonous, ca. 1.5 mm; style base not thickened; stigmas 3.

Forests, grasslands; 1200-2800 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].