General: Perennial, aquatic herb from long rhizomes; stems erect and emergent, 60-120 (200) cm tall.
Leaves: Alternate, stiff, emergent, erect, keeled at the base, flat at the tips, linear, 20-80 cm long, 8-20 mm wide.
Flowers: Inflorescence branched, of 1 or 2 female heads below and 5 to12 male heads above, the heads globe-shaped, unstalked, the female heads 2-2.6 cm wide, at least some borne above the leaf axils and subtended by conspicuous leaflike bracts; perianth segments 6, spoonlike, attached near the top of the flower stalk; stigmas 2 (rarely 1); anthers about 1-1.2 mm long.
Fruits: Achenes, top-shaped, 3-5 mm wide, 5-10 mm long, unstalked, beaked, the beaks 2-4 mm long, straight; seeds usually 2.
Wet meadows, shallow ponds and lakeshores in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent in S and E BC; N to NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, NY, VA, KY, MO, OK, NM, AZ, CA and MX.
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)
