Eriocaulon alpestre J. D. Hooker & Thomson ex Körnicke var. robustius Maximowicz, Diagn. Pl. Nov. Asiat. 8: 25. 1892.

Leaves linear, 6--15 cm, 2--3.5(--6) mm wide at middle, veins 7--12. Scapes numerous, 9--15(--20) cm, 4(or 5)-ribbed; sheath 5--6 cm; receptacle glabrous or occasionally sparsely pubescent; heads dusky, subglobose, 2.5--3.5 × 4--5 mm; involucral bracts slightly reflexed, straw-colored, ovate to oblong, 1.5--2.5 × 1.5--2.2 mm, glabrous or shortly hairy at apical margin; floral bracts obovate to oblanceolate, glabrescent. Male flowers: sepals spathelike, 1.4--1.8 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent at 3-lobed apex; petals 3, subulate, glabrous, gland black; anthers black. Female flowers: sepals spathelike, 1.5--2 mm, glabrescent, basally connate, apex 3-lobed; petals 3, lanceolate-spatulate, fleshy, adaxially villous but glabrous at apex, gland blackish brown; ovary 3-loculed; style 3-cleft. Seeds ovoid, 0.7--0.9 mm; testa reticulate, prickles 2--4 per cell, T- or Y-shaped or linear. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep.

This species was treated as a synonym of Eriocaulon alpestre var. alpestre by Zhang (Diss. Bot. 313: 203. 1999).

Beaches along rivers. Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Japan, Korea, Russia].