General: Perennial, tufted herb from short-creeping rhizomes; stems 30-100 cm tall, triangular, rough below the inflorescence, longer than the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths tight, ligules longer than wide; blades 4 to 8 per stem, flat, cross-walled, the margins rolled-under, borne on the lower 1/2 of the stem, 2-6 mm wide, the lower ones reduced, persistent.
Flowers: Spikes 4 to 7, the terminal 2 or 3 linear, 1.5-5 cm long, long-stalked, with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, cylindrical, 2.5-7.5 cm long, with female flowers, or some with male flowers above the female flowers, short-stalked, erect to spreading, well spaced along the upper 1/2 of the stem; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless, the lowest ones longer than the inflorescence.
Fruits: Perigynia lanceolate, 7-10 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, yellowish-green to reddish- brown, somewhat inflated, smooth, shiny, strongly nerved, gradually tapered from the broad bases to long beaks, the beaks 1.5-3 mm long, bidentate, with straight teeth; female scales lanceolate to egg-shaped, pointed, narrower and shorter than the perigynia, yellowish- to reddish-brown, with 3-nerved, lighter centres and narrow, translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.7-2.4 mm long.
Fens, swamps, marshes, shorelines and wet meadows in the lowland and montane zones; common in SW BC, less frequent northward; N to AK and NT, disjunct E to SK and S to CO, UT, NV and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
