Plants usually tufted, 7--20(--30) cm tall. Rhizome short. Stems terete, 0.7--1 mm in diam. Leaves all basal; leaf sheath auricles often purplish red, obtuse; leaf blade linear, 2--6 cm × ca. 0.7 mm. Inflorescences terminal; head solitary; flowers (2 or)3--5 in a horizontal row; bracts 3 or 4, erect-spreading, broadly ovate, 4--6 × 2.8--3.5 mm. Perianth segments yellowish white, lanceolate, 3--4 × 1.3--1.6 mm, unequal with outer ones slightly longer than inner, apex acuminate. Stamens 6; filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers oblong, 0.7--1 mm. Style ca. 0.8 mm; stigmas slightly longer than style. Capsule trigonous ellipsoid, ca. 4 mm, 3-septate, apex obtuse and mucronate. Seeds oblong, ca. 0.9 mm; appendages 2, whitish, subequal. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2 n = 50.

Wet places mainly on mountain slopes; 600--4500 m. Hebei, Qinghai, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Sikkim; Europe].