Carex scoparia Schkuhr ex Willd.

Very dense leafy tufts up to 90 cm high. Stems slender, sharply 3-angled, scabrid on margins below inflorescence. Leaves < stems, 2–3 mm wide, ± flat. Inflorescence 2–6 cm long, of 4–12 very clearly defined sessile spikes aggregated into an oblong or linear-oblong head; one or two lower spikes with small inconspicuous setaceous bracts < inflorescence. Spikes androgynous, male flowers at base, oblong or ovoid-oblong, tapering or rounded at apex. Glumes < utricles, lanceolate, acute, narrower than utricles at tip, light brown or white-hyaline, midrib green. Utricles ± 4 × 1–1.5 mm, lanceolate to narrow ovate-lanceolate, flat, faintly nerved on each side, greenish to brownish, ± narrowly winged throughout, minutely scabrid on margins of upper half, tapering to a beak ± 1 mm long. Stigmas 2. Nut ovoid-oblong.

[From: Healy and Edgar (1980) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 3.]