General:
Perennial, somewhat tufted herb from elongate fibrous roots; stems 25-60 cm tall, about as long as the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; blades numerous, borne on the lower part of the stem, 1.5-4 mm wide, flat.

Flowers:
Spikes 5 to 15 in a 3- to 5-cm long, dense, cylindrical or narrowly egg-shaped head, occasionally with a few spikes separate below, many-flowered, 5-8 mm long, ascending, with both female and male flowers, the female flowers towards the tips, the male flowers inconspicuous; lowermost bract awnlike, about 0.5-2 cm long.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped, 2.2-3.5 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, green, dark green or brownish, minutely whitish-dotted, plano-convex, smooth, obscurely ribbed, especially above, unstalked, the beaks about 1 mm long, minutely sharp-toothed, shallowly cleft; female scales egg-shaped, covering about 1/2 of the perigynia, pointed, nearly colourless to brownish, with green midribs; 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