General: Perennial, loosely tufted herb from short, branching rhizomes, the roots soft-hairy; stems 10-70 cm tall, as long as or longer than the leaves, reddish-tinged at the bases.
Leaves: Sheaths tight; blades 2 to 5 per stem, flat with slightly rolled-under margins, borne on lower 1/2 of stem, 2-5 mm wide, lower ones much reduced.
Flowers: Spikes 3 to 5, the terminal one linear, 15-25 mm long, with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, with female flowers, cylindrical, 1-3 cm long, 6-8 mm wide, separate, long-stalked, ascending, the lower one nodding; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless or short-sheathing, shorter or longer than the inflorescence, the others reduced.
Fruits: Perigynia narrowly egg-shaped, 3.3-5.5 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, usually light green, 10- to 15-nerved, short-stalked, beakless to short-beaked, 0.1-0.2 mm long; female scales egg-shaped, rounded, long-awned, the awns 3-5 mm long, as wide as and shorter or sometimes longer than the perigynia, black to dark brown, with lighter, green centres and translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, stalked, smooth, 1.7-2.3 mm long.
Moist to wet meadows, heaths, streambanks, and beaches in the lowland to subalpine zones; common in and W of Coast-Cascade Mountains, frequent E of Coast-Cascade Mountains; amphiberingian, N to AK and S to OR; NE Asia, Japan.
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)
