Abildgaardia fusca Nees in Wight, Contr. Bot. India, 95. 1834; Fimbristylis fusca var. cantoniensis C. B. Clarke.

Perennials, rhizomatous. Culms tufted, 20-40 cm tall, with radical leaves. Leaf blade linear, 5-35 cm × 1-3 mm, both surfaces hairy, apex acute. Involucral bracts 2-4, leaflike, 0.8-1.5 cm, hairy, base much broader, apex attenuate and apiculate. Inflorescence a compound anthela; rays many, hairy. Spikelets solitary, narrowly ovoid to narrowly oblong-ovoid, 6-10 mm, apex attenuate, with basal 2 or 3 glumes empty. Fertile glumes brown to nearly blackish brown, ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 mm, thickly papery, hairy, 1-veined forming an abaxial keel, margin sometimes hyaline, apex apiculate. Stamens 3. Style 4-5 mm, basally inflated; stigmas 3. Nutlet pale brown or white, almost sessile, obovoid, ca. 0.9 mm, 3-sided, verruculose. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Mountain summits, grassy slopes, grasslands, cultivated fields; 100-2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; N Australia].