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

General:
Perennial herb from long-creeping rhizomes; stems 5-20 cm tall, arising singly or a few together, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths green, the lower ones bladeless; blades 1 to 4 per stem, crowded toward the base, flat or more often channeled, the margins sometimes in-rolled, 0.3-1.5 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes densely aggregated into an egg-shaped, 5- to 20-mm long head, the spikes scarcely distinguishable, 4-9 mm long, unstalked, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips; bracts inconspicuous and like the scales.

Fruits:
Perigynia few, narrowly to broadly egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, appressed ascending, brown, obscurely biconvex, smooth, nerveless or often more or less several-nerved, short-stalked, the beaks bidentate, finely toothed, 1/3 to 1/4 the length of the bodies; female scales broadly egg-shaped, as long as and slightly wider than the perigynia, the lower ones awn-tipped, the upper ones round-tipped, light to medium brown, the margins translucent; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, smooth, 1.5-1.8 mm long.