General: Perennial herb from stout rhizomes, forming large colonies; stems circular in cross-section, tapered, firm, not easily crushed between the fingers, 100-300 (500) cm tall.
Leaves: Few, borne mainly or entirely toward the bases of the stems; sheaths prominent, well-developed; blades short, poorly-developed, or bladeless.
Fruits: Scales pale grey-white with numerous, short, linear, reddish-brown marks, more or less sticky short-hairy, mostly (3) 3.5-4 mm long, broadly egg-shaped, the margins somewhat irregularly jagged or fringed with cobwebby, soft, long-tangled hairs, the midri
Marshes, lakeshores and streams in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC south of 56degreeN, less frequent northward; N to AK and YT, E to NF and S to TN, GA, TX, NM 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)