Perennials. Rhizomes short. Culms tufted, (11-)25-70 cm tall, flatly and obtusely 3-angled, striate, with many leaves at base. Leaves slightly shorter than culms to 1/4-1/2 as long as culm; sheaths brown, abaxially membranous and rust-colored, apex truncate; leaf blade 2-4.5 mm wide, flat, stiff, margin finely toothed, apex acute. Involucral bracts 2 or 3, leaflike, much shorter than inflorescence; bractlets subulate, broader at base. Inflorescence a compound or decompound anthela; rays 2-4, 0.7-3.5 cm, slightly compressed. Spikelets solitary, oblong-ovoid to ellipsoid, 5-10 × 2-3 mm, 7-10-flowered or more, apex acute. Glumes chestnut-brown, ovate, 2.2-3.5 mm, 5-7-veined forming an abaxial obtuse keel, midvein green and excurrent into a mucro, margin membranous, apex acute. Stamens 3; anthers narrowly oblong, ca. 2 mm, ca. 2 × as long as filaments. Ovary oblong, nearly 3-sided, base slightly narrowed; style 3-sided, not ciliate, basally inflated to oblong-conic; stigmas 3, slightly longer than style. Nutlet yellowish white to yellow, obovoid, ca. 2 mm, obtusely 3-sided, with transversely oblong reticulation and verrucae. Fl. and fr. May-Jun.

Grassy slopes; 100-3100 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, S Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].