E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial herb from long rhizomes and/or stolons; stems 10-30 cm tall, arising singly, branched at the bases into several sterile shoots, much longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths purplish, reddish-brown or straw-coloured, the lower ones lacking blades; blades 1 to 3 from near the bases, 1-5 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, flat or sometimes folded.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, egg-shaped, 5-12 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, erect, clustered, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips; lowermost bract scalelike.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, yellowish-brown or brownish, thick, convex, smooth, shiny, strongly nerved, wingless, short-stalked, the beaks short, 0.3-0.5 mm long; female scales egg-shaped, slightly longer than the perigynia, pointed, brown, the margins translucent; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-2 mm long.