General:
Perennial herb from rhizomes and also tubers from the stem-base, the tubers 2.5-3 cm thick; stems 100-200 cm tall.

Leaves:
Leaves several, well-developed; sheaths reaching well above the middle of the stems; blades flat or nearly so, 6-15 (18) mm wide, up to 40 cm long.

Flowers:
Spikes mostly 10 to 50, terminal, brown, 1.2-2.5 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, egg-shaped to spindle-shaped, pointed or nearly so, several of them in compact, terminal clusters, the others borne singly or in small clusters at the ends of several mostly lax branches that are 3-7 cm long; involucral bracts several, conspicuous, elongate, very unequal, some of them leaflike and much longer than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Scales numerous, brown, minutely stiff short-hairy on the backs, awned, the awns short, more or less flexuous from tapering or notched tips; perianth bristles well-developed, stiff, minutely and finely-barbed backwards, variable, often equalling the achenes; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, dull grey-brown, mostly 3.5-5 mm long, half as wide, abruptly sharp-pointed.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia