Herbs, perennial, cespitose, forming domes of rosettes, 15--23 cm. Leaves narrowly linear, abruptly attenuate, 1.5--4 cm, apex subulate. Inflorescences: scape sheaths shorter than leaves; scapes filiform, 0.5 mm wide, obscurely ridged, proximally densely pilose with ascending hairs, distally glabrous or nearly so; mature heads dull gray-brown or pale gray, globose to short cylindric, 3.5--4(--5) mm wide; receptacle pilose with translucent hairs; outer involucral bracts reflexed, brown to chestnut brown, ovate, 1 mm, apex obtuse, abaxially pilose; inner bracts distally brown, broadly spatulate or pandurate, 1--1.5(--2) mm, apex obtuse, pilose-ciliate, adaxially pilose with whitish, mealy, opaque, club-shaped hairs. Staminate flowers: sepals 3, brown to chestnut brown, oblanceolate-spatulate, 1--1.5(--2) mm, apex obtuse, ciliate, abaxially with white, mealy, opaque hairs; androphore pale, club-shaped, as long as sepals, glabrous; stamens 3, appendages 3. Pistillate flowers: sepals 3, tan or pale brown, oblong to linear, 2--3 mm, apex acute, glabrous or abaxially pilose toward apex, hairs white; gynoecium 3-carpellate; stylar column pale, dilated apically, appendages 3. Seeds dark red-brown, very lustrous, ellipsoid, 0.5 mm, apex apiculate, longitudinal ribs faint, transverse ribs forming finely cross-striolate pattern.

Flowering summer--fall. Sands and sandy peats, frequently dry pond shores, flatwoods, pine savanna, sandhills ecotones; of conservation concern; 0--100 m; Fla., Ga., N.C., S.C.

Through its range Lachnocaulon beyrichianum is sympatric with L. anceps; it has narrower, more glabrous foliage, smaller heads, darker bracts, and smoother, more lustrous seeds. Where the two are in the same site, L. beyrichianum takes the drier substrata.