The erect and roughly textured culms are 10 to 90 cm (3.9 to 35.4 in) in length and have a triangular cross-section with a diameter of about 1 mm (0.039 in).

The dark green leaves are longer than the culms and have a width of 2 to 4 mm (0.079 to 0.157 in) and have a rough texture at the edges and are surrounded by pale yellow-brown to orange-brown coloured sheaths.

[1] In its native range it flowers in Spring and Summer between September and February.

[3] The species was first described by the botanist Carl Sigismund Kunth in 1837 as a part of the work Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum, Secundum Familias Naturales Disposita, Adjectis Characteribus, Differentiis et Synonymis.

[2] Media related to Carex gaudichaudiana at Wikimedia Commons