Carex ornithopoda

Perennial, cespitose herb.

5–15 cm high.

The stems are ascending and smooth. The basal leaf-sheaths are light brown or greenish.

The leaves are shorter than the stem, 1–3 mm wide and light green.

The bracts of the spikes are small with conspicuous membranaceous sheaths. The pistillate spike is sessile. There are 2–4 pistillate spikes in the inflorescence. The spikes are 5–10 mm long, close to each other and lax. At least the most distal spike reaches higher than the staminate spike. The peduncles are often covered by sheaths. The pistillate scales are shorter than the perigynium, short-beaked, light brown and membranaceous at the margin. The perigynia are 2–3 mm long, narrowly pyriform, triquetrous, without visible venation, light green and puberulent.

The fruit is an achene that matures inside the perigynium.