[3] The woody and shortly creeping rhizome has a diameter of 3 to 10 millimetres (0.118 to 0.394 in) and is covered in light brown papery, loose, imbricate bracts.

The terete, rigid, erect, smooth, glaucous culms arise as crowded tufts along rhizome and have one to two distant nodes.

The oblong to ovoid shaped nut that forms later has a length of 2.5 to 3 mm (0.098 to 0.118 in) and is dark brown to black and orange near the base.

[4] The species was first formally described by the botanist Tetsuo Koyama in 1956 as part of the work Taxonomic Study of Cyperaceae as published in Botanical Magazine (Tokyo).

It is found in coastal areas to lower montane in and around swamps, salt marshes, lake margins and river estuaries.