Lomandra nana (dwarf mat-rush) is a tufted plant with branched stems.  Leaves are 5-20 cm long and 0.8-1.5 mm wide, are flat and often curved.  The leaf apex is truncate to acute.  Leaf sheath edges are white becoming coarsely torn.

Male inflorescences are shorter in length than the leaves and are held on a scape up to 3 cm in length.  Flowers are in spherical clusters along the rhachis.  Female inflorescences barely protrude from the leaf sheaths.  Flower clusters are supported by a triagular bract. Capsules are ovoid in shape with horizontal wrinkles underneath.

Favours open positions, dry banks and hillsides or under light forest cover up to 300 m in altitude.