Scirpus polystachyus

Robust tufted perennial, with short, stout rhizome. Culms terete to trigonous, erect, smooth, 50–200 cm long, 2.5–5 mm diam. Leaves shorter than culms, to 7 mm wide; sheaths green to yellow-brown, persisting as fibrous remains. Inflorescence oblong to ovate in outline, 6–30 cm long, with slender drooping branches. Spikelets 6–9 mm long; glumes obtuse to acute, occasionally shortly mucronate, glabrous, dark green-grey with prominent green midrib, c. 2.5 mm long; anthers 1.2–1.7 mm long, excluding apical appendage to 0.1 mm long. Nut ellipsoid to obovoid, plano-convex or with a distinct dorsal angle, ± glistening, minutely pitted, pale yellow-brown, 1.2–1.5 mm long, 0.6–0.8 mm diam. Flowers summer.