General:
Perennial, loosely tufted herb from short rhizomes; stems 5-30 cm tall, longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; blades 3 to 6 per stem, flat, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem, 1-2 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, 4-10 mm long, borne close together at the top of the stems, with female flowers, except the terminal spike with a few male flowers at the base, short-stalked; bracts subtending the female spikes with short sheaths, scalelike, the lowermost barely reaching the top of the inflorescence and with blackish earlike lobes at the top of the sheath.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 2-3 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, inflated, dull green to bluish-white, nerveless, with a powdery surface, beakless; female scales egg-shaped, pointed to rounded at the tips, shorter and narrower than the perigynia, purplish-black to reddish-brown, with greenish midribs and translucent margins; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.4 mm long.

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