General: Perennial herb from elongated rhizomes; stems arising singly or few together, erect, 20-75 cm tall.
Leaves: Located on the lower part of the stem, nearly circular in cross-section, tapered, the early leaves stiff, with prominent complete cross-walls; sheaths open, with short, rounded, ear-shaped lobes.
Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, 3-12 cm long, with (3) 5 to 30, more or less globe-shaped heads, the heads each with many flowers, the branches few, erect; perianth segments dark brown, 3-4.5 mm long, lanceolate to short-awned, pointed, the inner about the same length as the outer; stamens 6; anthers 1-2 mm long, longer than the filaments; involucral bract shorter than inflorescence.
Fruits: Capsules, egg-shaped to cylindrical, pointed, abruptly narrowed, shorter than the perianth segments; seeds barrel-like, about 0.4 mm long, lacking appendages.
Notes: This is a variable species and several infraspecific taxa (often treated as distinct species) have been described from WA and OR.
Wet lakeshores and stream margins in the lowland, steppe, and montane zones; infrequent in the Chilcotin-Cariboo region, rare elsewhere; E to AB and S to 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)
