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

General:
Perennial, loosely tufted herb from long rhizomes; stems 10-25 cm tall, rough above, about equalling the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths brownish, the lower ones bladeless and breaking into threads; blades 6 to 9 per stem, mostly basal, flat or somewhat channeled, gradually tapering to the tips, 2-2.5 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes 2 to 4, the terminal one stalked, linear, 12-20 mm long, with male flowers, the lower spikes 1 to 3, linear, 10-20 mm long, the female flowers short-stalked, erect; bracts subtending the female spikes reduced to bladeless sheaths, up to 1 cm long.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, straw-coloured or brownish, obscurely 3-angled, appressed short-hairy, crowded, erect, short-stalked, the beaks bidentate, about 0.5 mm long or less; female scales broadly egg-shaped, dark purplish, with translucent margins, longer than the perigynia; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.7-2 mm long.