Plants densely tufted, 16--35 cm tall. Stolons few or absent. Stems terete. Basal leaves several, cauline leaves 1--3; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, flat, 4--11 cm × 2--4 mm, usually pilose except for apical callus, apex obtuse. Inflorescence subumbellate, with 5--9(--12) flower clusters; basal involucral bract 2--5 cm; clusters borne on erect branches, pedunculate, ovoid to narrowly so or subsessile and subglobose, 4--10-flowered. Pedicels with 1 or 2 bracts at base; bracteoles broadly ovate, ca. 2 mm. Perianth segments pale brown to reddish brown, all lanceolate or inner ones ovate to elliptic, 2.5--3 × ca. 0.9 mm, subequal, margin hyaline. Filaments 0.6--0.8 mm; anthers 1--1.5 mm. Style 0.7--0.9 mm, subequaling ovary; stigmas spirally turned, 1.4--1.8 mm. Capsule brown to reddish brown or blackish brown, obovoid or broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, shorter than or subequaling perianth, apex mucronulate. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 mm; appendage basal, to 1/2 as long as seed. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2 n = 24, 36.

Forest and ravine margins, mountain valleys, wet stream banks, grasslands on slopes and in high mountains; 1900--3600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Sikkim; Europe, North America, Oceania].