Its perennial sterile stems are short, slender and irregularly branched reaching up to 15 cm in length.

They have small, pointed, triangular leaves about 1–2 mm long, each bearing a ligule on its upper surface near the base.

In Asia it reaches Japan while in North America it occurs south as far as Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine.

It inhabits bogs, the shores of streams and lakes, wet cliffs and ledges, grassland and dune slacks.

[5] The loss of rich fens due to ditch drainage and turning meadows into fields or lawns has caused habitat to disappear in Southern Finland.