Plants perennial; rhizomes 1.5-2 mm thick, scales persistent, 7-9 mm, thinly papery, sometimes fibrous; resting buds unknown; caudices present, hard, 3 mm thick. Culms erect, markedly spirally twisted, markedly obliquely contracted near spikelet, when dry often with to 6 broad, rounded ridges on each side, greatly compressed, 3-4 times as wide as thick, 20-40 cm × 1.5-2.5 mm, firm; culm tufts not proximally bulbous. Leaves: distal leaf sheaths stramineous to medium (or dark) brown, papery, apex often dark brown to reddish, broadly obtuse. Spikelets 6-8 × 2-3 mm; proximal scale empty, 3-4 mm, shorter than to equaling spikelet; floral scales 8-10 per spikelet, 3.5-5 × 2 mm. Perianth bristles 0-5, unequal, rudimentary to equaling achene, the shorter stout, smooth or nearly so, the longer slender, densely spinulose. Anthers 1.8 -3 mm. Achenes stramineous to medium brown, thickly trigonous, 1.75-2.75 × 1-1.25 mm; beak 0.3-0.6 mm. Tubercles 0.25-0.6 × 0.3-0.55 mm.

Fruiting summer (Jun-Jul). Fens, wet meadows, vernal ponds; of conservation concern; 1100 m; Calif.

Eleocharis torticulmis is known only from the botanically rich Butterfly Valley in Plumas County.