General:
Perennial, loosely tufted herb from short, spreading rhizomes; stems 4-20 cm tall, sharply triangular, roughened, clustered, longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, brownish; blades 4 to 8, flat or more or less channeled, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem, 0.5-1.8 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 2 to 4, the terminal one linear, 10-13 mm long, stalked, with male flowers, the lower spikes 1 to 3, egg-shaped, few-flowered, with female flowers, unstalked to short-stalked, erect to spreading; bracts subtending the female spikes scalelike, awned, sheathless, slightly longer to slightly shorter than the spikes, the lowest one with conspicuous, translucent, ear-shaped lobes.

Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical to egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.4-1.8 mm wide, yellowish-green to brown, smooth, shiny, with 2 prominent marginal nerves, short-stalked, the beaks short, obliquely cut, 0.4-0.8 mm long; female scales broadly egg-shaped, pointed or sometimes shortly awned, shorter than the perigynia, chestnut-brown, with lighter midribs and translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, smooth, 1-1.6 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex spaniocarpa