General: Perennial, somewhat tufted herb from elongate, fibrous roots; stems 20-60 cm tall, sharply triangular, rough below the inflorescence, about as long as the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths tight; blades numerous, borne on the lower part of the stem, 2-3 mm wide, flat.
Flowers: Spikes 5 to 10 in a 3- to 5-cm long inflorescence, the upper closer together, egg-shaped, many-flowered, about 5 mm long, ascending, the lower few spikes separate, with both female and male flowers, the female flowers towards the tips, the male flowers inconspicuous; bracts reduced, only the lowermost bract sometimes awnlike, about 0.5-2 cm long.
Fruits: Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.2-2.5 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, light green, minutely whitish-dotted, plano-convex, smooth, with several nerves, especially above, unstalked, the beaks short, 0.25 mm long, smooth, not cleft; female scales egg-shaped, almost covering the perigynia, pointed, green, with green midribs; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.5 mm long, filling the perigynia.
Bogs, swamps, fens, wet meadows and streambanks in all but the alpine zone; common in S BC, less frequent northward; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to Labr. and NF and S to ME, PA, WV, IN, MN, WI, SD, NM, AZ and CA; Greenland, Iceland, Eurasia, S America, Australia, New Guinea.
