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

General:
Perennial herb from long-creeping rhizomes; stems 10-50 cm tall, arising singly, triangular, rough below the inflorescence, longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; ligules shorter than wide; blades 4 to 8 per stem, V-shaped, cross-walled; 2.5-5 mm wide, arising in the lower 1/3 of the stem.

Flowers:
Spikes 2 to 5, the terminal 1 or 2 spikes with male flowers, the lower 1 to 3 spikes with female flowers, 1-3 cm long, on short stalks, erect; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless or short-sheathing, the lowest shorter than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical to broadly egg-shaped or nearly globe-shaped, 2.5-4 mm long, 1.3-2.2 mm wide, obscurely few-nerved, inflated, purplish-black, shiny, the bases round, short-stalked, the beaks short, 0.1-0.3 mm long, entire or nearly so; female scales lanceolate to egg-shaped, with blunt or pointed tips, narrower and shorter than the perigynia, purplish-brown, with 3-nerved, lighter centres and narrow, translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.5 mm long.