Juncus elegans Royle ex D. Don; J. elegans Samuelsson (1936) not Royle ex D. Don (1840).

Plants perennial, tufted, 16--45 cm tall. Rhizome chestnut brown. Stems terete, 0.5--1 mm in diam., striate. Cataphylls 1 or 2, chestnut brown. Basal leaves 1 or 2, cauline leaves 1--3; leaf sheath auricles 0.5--1 mm, membranous; leaf blade linear, pluritubular, adaxially channeled, V-shaped in cross section, not septate, 2--16 cm × 0.3--2 mm, apex obtuse. Inflorescences terminal; involucral bract leaflike, lanceolate, 1.5--6 cm; heads 2--5(--7), hemispheric, 8--10 mm in diam., (3--)5--7(--14)-flowered. Perianth segments yellowish white, lanceolate to oblong; outer segments 3--3.5 mm, apex acute; inner segments 3.5--4 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 6, distinctly longer than perianth; filaments chestnut brown, linear, 4--5 mm; anthers 1--1.5 mm. Style 1.2--1.8 mm; stigmas 0.7--1.1 mm. Capsule trigonous ovoid to ellipsoid, 2--3 mm, 3-septate, apex beaked; beak 0.5--1 mm; style persistent. Seeds chestnut brown, ovoid to oblong, 0.6--0.7 mm, both ends appendaged; appendages 0.1--0.2 mm. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

Forests on mountain slopes, wet grasslands, moist soil in ravines; 1500--3900 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Sikkim].