E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short, stout rhizomes; stems 15-60 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths purplish-red towards the bases; blades flat, 3-8 mm wide, the lower ones fully developed.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 6, the terminal one with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 5, mostly remote, with female flowers, 0.6-2.5 cm long, short-stalked, erect; bracts subtending the spikes without sheaths, the lowermost leaflike, about equalling or longer than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 3.5-4.5 mm long, 1.8-2 mm wide, plump, yellowish-green to yellowish-brown, marginally 2-ribbed, several-nerved, the beaks obscure, less than 0.4 mm long; female scales lanceolate, nearly as long as and narrower than the perigynia, pointed at the tips, brown to black, with light brown margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 2.2-2.5 mm long.