Perennial herbs, prostrate or erect, more or less pilose-tomentose. Stems rooting at the nodes, 30-60 cm long. Leaves 1.5-5 cm wide, obovate-oblong or obovate-spathulate, tapering at base, nearly obtuse at apex. Spikes ovoid, about 1.2 cm in diameter. Flowers white, woolly at base, 0.3-0.6 cm long. Bracts and bracteoles membranous, more or less as long as perianth, ovate-lanceolate, sharply-mucronate. Perianth segments up to 0.6 cm long, unequal, free, ovate-lanceolate, spiny tipped, prickly in fruit, glabrous, the inner 3 with tufts of white small hairs and 3-nerved below. Stamens 5, all with anthers slightly exceeding the ovary and style; staminodes reduced to short teeth. Utricles small, ovoid-orbicular, 0.2-0.4 cm long. Seed discoid, about 0.1 cm in diameter, brown. Flowering from September to February.

Wet places of waste ground.