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

General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short, stout rhizomes; stems 15-60 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths purplish-red towards the bases; blades flat, 2-6 mm wide, the lower ones much reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 9, the terminal one with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 8, with female flowers, 1.5-3.5 cm long, short-stalked, erect, except the lowermost often long-stalked and nodding; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, bristlelike, and shorter than the inflorescence, or leaflike and longer than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.2-1.8 mm wide, yellow-green, or brown to purple-black, nerveless or faintly nerved, the beaks short, 0.3-0.5 mm long; female scales lanceolate, nearly as long as and narrower than the perigynia, pointed at the tips and extended into short awns, reddish-black, with light brown margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, egg-shaped, 1.4-1.7 mm long.

Notes:
Sometimes difficult to separate from C. podocarpa in NW BC.