General:
Perennial, clumped herb from short rhizomes; stems triangular with rough edges, 10-65 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, short; blades flat, well distributed along the stem, 3-6 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 or 4, the terminal spike with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 or 3, with female flowers (sometimes with male flowers at the tips), unstalked or with short stalks, 0.5-2.5 cm long, erect; lowermost bract subtending the spikes scalelike, sheathless, with black ear-shaped lobes, the upper ones reduced.

Fruits:
Perigynia broadly egg-shaped, 2-4 mm long, 1.2-2.3 mm wide, brownish-green, 3-angled, the angles rounded, smooth to somewhat wrinkled, beakless; female scales egg-shaped, shorter or longer than the perigynia, brownish-red to purplish-black, with lighter 3-nerved centres and translucent margins; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.7 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex campylocarpa T. Holm
Carex campylocarpa subsp. affinis Maguire & A. Holmgren
Carex gymnoclada T. Holm
Carex scopulorum var. scopulorum T. Holm