General: Perennial, densely tufted herb from short rhizomes; stems 5-30 (40) cm tall, densely clustered, longer than or sometimes equalling the leaves, purple-tinged at the bases.
Leaves: Sheaths tight, persistent; blades flat, channeled above, smooth or somewhat rough, borne on the lower 1/4 of the stem, 1-4 mm wide, the lower ones slightly reduced.
Flowers: Spikes 4 to 10, the terminal one unstalked or short-stalked, 5-15 mm long, with male flowers, the lower spikes 3 to 9, few-flowered, with female flowers, unstalked to short-stalked, 1 to 4 of these borne near the male spike and 1 or more borne near the bases of the stem, erect; bracts subtending the female spikes leaflike, sheathless or short-sheathing, from shorter than to 4 times as long as the male spike, the upper bracts reduced.
Fruits: Perigynia elliptical to nearly globe-shaped, 3-4 mm long, 2.6-3 mm wide, green to straw-coloured, convex, finely short-hairy, with 2 prominent marginal nerves, the bases long-stalked, the beaks short and inconspicuous to slender and 0.4-1.8 mm long, shallowly bidentate; female scales egg-shaped and pointed on the upper perigynia to broadly lanceolate and awned on the lower perigynia, usually shorter and somewhat wider than the perigynia, brownish-green, with lighter midribs and translucent margins; stigmas 3, rarely 2; achenes 3-angled, smooth, 1.5-2 mm long.
Notes: Part of the poorly studied C. deflexa complex.
Dry to mesic open forests, rock outcrops and forest openings in all vegetation zones; common throughout BC except absent on the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK and YT, E to ON, and S to MI, NE, NM, AZ 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)
A shade-intolerant, submontane to subalpine, North American sedge distributed in the Pacific, Cordilleran, and Central regions. Occurs on very dry to moderately dry, nitrogen-medium soils, within boreal, temperate, cool semi-arid, and cool mesothermal climates. Its occurrence increases with increasing continentality and decreases with increasing precipitation. Sporadic on shallow stony or rocky soils in open-canopy forests; scattered on cutover areas on water-shedding sites. Characteristic of moisture-deficient sites.
