General: Perennial, densely tufted herb from stout, fibrous roots; stems 8-30 cm tall, longer than the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths tight, the old basal ones persistent and conspicuous, lined, breaking into threads; blades 2 or 3 per stem, in-rolled, borne near the base, about 0.25 mm wide, the lower ones persistent.
Flowers: Spikes solitary, linear at first, expanding below at maturity, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips, the female flowers below, 10-30 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, erect; bractless.
Fruits: Perigynia egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long, 2-2.3 mm wide, dull whitish to straw-coloured, short hairy, at least above, obscurely 2-ribbed, unstalked, the beaks translucent, 0.2-0.4 mm long; female scales broadly egg-shaped, larger than and concealing the perigynia, rounded, greenish, the centres darker, the margins bright white-translucent; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 2.2-3 mm long.
Dry open sites in the steppe and montane zones; frequent in SC BC, less frequent eastward and northward; N to AK, YT and NT, E to SW MB and S to MN, KS, NM, AZ and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
