[2] It is a characteristic plant of nutrient-poor moors, wet heaths and moorland forests in Europe.

The stems grow rigidly upright or diagonally upwards, sometimes bent over at fruiting time.

The 1 millimeter wide uppermost leaf blade is about twice as long as the cut-out is deep (see picture on the left).

The glumes are elongated lanceolate, pointed, 3 to 4 millimeters long, yellow to reddish-brown, with a green keel and membranous edge.

[3] The caryopsis, which is grey to yellow-brown when ripe, is flattened triangular at a length of 1.5 to 2 millimeters and narrows towards the upper end.

germanicum occurs exclusively in western Europe, namely in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Great Britain (including the Shetland Islands and the Hebrides), Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

The Federal Republic of Germany represents the south-eastern outer edge of its continuously populated range.

germanicum rows optimally in full light and only tolerates shade to a limited extent.

Its ecological focus is on wet, partially flooded, highly acidic, very low-nitrogen moorland soils and bogs.

Plant taxa in this group are perennial, highly competitive species on sites with at least one minimum or maximum ecological factor (stress).

The nutrients required to build up the above-ground parts of the plant are transferred back to the base of the shoot during seed formation.

[citation needed] From a phytosociological point of view, it is the characteristic species of the association Sphagno compacti-Trichophoretum germanici (Oberd.

Dierßen 1975 (in German: Rasenbinsen-Anmoor) within the bell heather-wet heath communities (association Ericion tetralicis).

[14] Characteristic species of these plant communities are peat mosses such as Sphagnum compactum, Sphagnum tenellum, bell heather (Erica tetralix), yellow bog lily (Narthecium ossifragum), narrow-leaved cotton grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), blue moor grass (Molinia caerulea) and bog birch (Betula pubescens).

Larger populations now only grow in some nature reserves; small remnants can usually still be found along forest paths and edges in areas of afforested heathland.