Small tufted perennial; culms up to 5 cm high, erect. Leaf-blades convolute, 0.5-1.5 cm long, c. 1 mm wide, green, faintly scaberulous above. Panicle contracted, 1-2 cm long, the branches smooth, short and ascending. Spikelets 3-4 mm long, 2-3-flowered, green, variegated with purple; glumes elliptic or oblong, blunt, the lower 0.75-1 mm long, 1-nerved, the upper 1-1.5 mm long, 1-nerved; lemmas 2.2-2.5 mm long, elliptic-oblong, minutely emarginate, glabrous, the mid-nerve reaching the tip and excurrent as a very short mucro; palea keels scabrid above, smooth below; anthers 0.75-1 mm long.