Spikenard Sedge is a high elevation plant, growing from 6,000-8,000 feet, and sometimes higher. It is small, tufted, with needlelike leaves. Each stem has a single brown spike.

Reachable by trail, here the sedge grows at nearly 7,400 feet on Second Burroughs above Sunrise.

The leaves of this "classic" sedge sometimes exceed the stems in length. The male spikel is the brown, narrow structure above the cylindrical female spike. The perigynia (the sack surrounding the seeds) is greenish.