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

General:
Perennial, somewhat tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems 30-100 cm tall, roughened on the angles, longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths not coppery-coloured, conspicuously red-dotted with glandular projections on the side nearest the stems, the blades of the lower ones large, firm, persistent; blades 3 or 4 per stem, mostly from near the base, 1-2.5 (3) mm wide, flat, the margins rolled-under.

Flowers:
Spikes numerous in a 2- to 5-cm long, narrow head, egg-shaped, few-flowered, 4-5 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, erect or mostly ascending, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips; bracts inconspicuous, sheathless, often similar to the female scales.

Fruits:
Perigynia broadly egg-shaped, 2.5-3 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, straw-coloured to usually dark brown, biconvex, smooth, strongly nerved on the outside, short-stalked, the beaks as long as the bodies, slightly bidentate, not winged, the margins obscurely fine-toothed; female scales egg-shaped, equalling or slightly longer than the perigynia, pointed, brown, the margins translucent; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.4 mm long.