Luzula hawaiiensis var. hawaiiensis is a perennial herb firmly and weakly soluble in cespitose. The stems are erect, ranging from up to 7 meters long, and are inconspicuously striate. The leaves are primarily basal, typically 1–2(3) per stem. The blades are linear, measuring 5–30 cm long and 1–10 mm wide, with a mucronate apex. The margins are densely pubescent, especially when young, and often become glabrate as they age. It lacks petioles and stipules. The flowers are arranged in (2)3–8(–10) subglobose glomerules, each subtended by papery or scarious bracts. These flowers form cymose, terminal inflorescences, and there is occasionally a smaller lateral inflorescence at the next lower node in the axil of a single foliar bract. The bracts subtending the inflorescence range from 1–4 and are foliaceous, measuring 2–10 cm long, which can be shorter than, equal to, or slightly longer than the inflorescence. Each flower is further subtended by 2–3(4) acuminate bracteoles with laciniate to subentire margins. The flowers themselves are bisexual (perfect), with perianth parts pale yellowish brown to dark brown, linear, subulate, and having narrow, hyaline margins; the outer perianth parts are 2.5–4.5 mm long, and the inner parts are 2–3.5 mm long. There are six stamens, with anthers equal to or longer than the filaments, and the pollen grains remain in tetrads surrounded by a common exine. The ovary is superior, sessile, 1-celled with basal placentation, and has three anatropous ovules; the styles are about as long as the ovary. The fruit is a capsule that is pale brown to reddish brown, glossy, and trigonous. It is shaped oblong or ovoid and shorter than the perianth. Seeds are red to dark brown, ellipsoid to ovoid, 1–2 mm long, with rugulose surfaces. They often feature a white micropylar caruncle and a conical protuberance at the apex. It is found in open or rocky sites, slopes, cliffs, ridges, and open areas in mesic forests, shrublands, subalpine forests, shrublands, and grasslands between 730 – 2,560 meters.