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

General:
Perennial, tufted herb from long, creeping rhizomes; stems 4-12 cm tall, arising singly or a few together, longer or shorter than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, translucent below; ligules slightly wider than long; blades 8 to 12 per stem, flat or folded, borne on the lower 1/2 of the stem, soon drying, 1-3 mm wide, the tips often curled.

Flowers:
Spikes solitary, linear to cylindrical, 10-20 mm long, 3-4.5 mm wide, erect, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips, the female flowers below; bractless.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long, 1.5-1.7 mm wide, brown to straw-coloured, 2-keeled, finely many-nerved, unstalked or nearly so, the beaks short, about 0.2 mm long, bidentate; female scales broadly egg-shaped, shorter than or slightly larger than the perigynia, round or pointed, dark brown, the centres lighter, the margins white-translucent; stigmas 3; achenes sharply 3-angled, 2-2.5 mm long.

Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:

1. Female scales slightly larger than and usually concealing the perigynia; leaves 2-3 mm wide ................ssp. drummondiana (Dewey) Holub

1. Female scales shorter than perigynia; leaves about 1.5 mm wide................ ssp. rupestris