General: Perennial, tufted herb from short, stout rhizomes; stems 15-40 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths purplish-red towards the bases; blades flat, 2-6 mm wide, the lower ones not reduced.
Flowers: Spikes 3 to 5, the terminal one with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, with female flowers, 0.5-2 cm long, short-stalked, erect; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, bristlelike to scalelike, shorter than the inflorescence.
Fruits: Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.5-1.8 mm wide, green, brown to dark brown, nerveless, the beaks obscure, less than 0.3 mm long; female scales lanceolate, shorter and narrower than the perigynia, pointed at the tips, brown, with light brown margins; styles prominently exserted, stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.5 mm long.
Marshes, fens, bogs and moist to wet meadows and gravelly sites in the lowland to alpine zones; frequent in coastal BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, disjunct E to NF and S to NW WA; Greenland, N Europe and E Asia.
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)
