[3] It is a herbaceous perennial plant, native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where it grows in wet Sphagnum peat bogs.

It grows to 10–40 cm tall, with narrow linear leaves alternating up the stem, with a basal sheath.

[4] It has a creeping rhizome clothed in papery, straw coloured remains of old leaf bases.

It flowers from June until August[5][6][7] There are two subspecies, not considered distinct by all authorities:[6][7][8] The genus is named after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, a Swiss naturalist, and his brother, Johann Gaspar Scheuchzer.

The English name refers to its occurrence on Rannoch Moor in central Scotland, the first site in Great Britain the species was known from, and only one where it currently occurs; it is extinct at a few other wetland sites further south in Britain, being found in pools and wet hollows of ancient undisturbed Sphagnum bogs.