General: Perennial, loosely tufted herb from compact rhizomes; stems 1 to 15, erect, 25-100 cm long.
Leaves: Located on the lower 1/3 of the stem, narrow, flattened, lacking cross-walls; sheaths open, with short, cartilaginous, yellowish or yellowish-brown, glossy, ear-shaped lobes.
Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, 5-15 cm long, the branches ascending, the flowers each with 2 blunt involucral bracts; perianth segments green, 3-5 mm long, pointed, spreading, the inner about the same length as the outer; stamens 6; anthers 0.6-0.9 mm long, shorter than or almost equal to the filaments.
Fruits: Capsules, 1-celled, rounded, about the same length as the perianth segments or slightly shorter; seeds egg-shaped, about 0.4-0.6 mm long, lacking tail-like appendages.
Notes: This is a member of the J. tenuis complex, whose taxonomy and distribution in British Columbia has not been studied.
Dry to moist meadows, pastures, roadsides and ditches, mostly on disturbed soil in the steppe and montane zones; infrequent in SC and SE BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, VA, SC, MS, TX, NM, AZ and CA.
