General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short rhizomes; stems 15-50 cm tall, short-hairy, roughened above, wine-red at the bases, equalling or longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, brownish, soft-hairy, deeply concave at the tips; ligules longer than wide; blades 2 or 3 per stem, flat, soft-hairy, the margins more or less rolled-under, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem, 1.5-3.5 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, the terminal one linear, 8-16 mm long, short-stalked, with male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, cylindrical, 6-12 mm long, 4-7 mm wide, with female flowers, unstalked to short-stalked, approximate to somewhat separate, erect to spreading; bracts subtending the female spikes leaflike, sheathless, as long as or longer than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped to broadly egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, yellowish-green, smooth, many-nerved, round-tapered to short stalks, the beaks short, cylindrical; female scales about 1/2 the length of the perigynia, egg-shaped, the lower ones long-pointed, the upper ones pointed, reddish- to brownish-yellow, the centres green, 3-nerved, the margins broad, translucent; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 2-2.5 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 abbreviata Prescott