Stems: single or few in a tuft, stoloniferous, erect. Leaves: glabrous. Flowers: borne singly or sometimes two or three together on the branches of the inflorescence on slender pedicels. Fruit: seeds narrowly oblong.

A perennial plant, with leaves tapering to a sharp point, and a nodding, decompound, greenish-brown panicle. The Wood Rushes are rather degenerate, as the scentless, honey-less, colourless condition of their tiny blossoms evidences, and they depend altogether upon wind-fertilisation. Luzula spicata, or Spiked Wood Rush, has from one to three grass-like leaves on the stems, and a nodding spikelike panicle.