General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short rhizomes; stems 15-80 cm tall, much exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths reddish towards the bases; blades flat, 2-5 mm wide, the lower ones not much reduced.

Flowers:
Terminal spike with both female and male flowers, the female ones towards the tips, the lateral spikes female, short-stalked and upright to spreading, 1-2.5 cm long; bracts subtending the spikes short- sheathing, leaflike, about equalling the spikes.

Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical, 2.7-3.5 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, straw-coloured often with greenish margins, nerveless and pimpled, the beaks short, less than 0.4 mm long; female scales broadly lanceolate, shorter than and about as wide as the perigynia, reddish-black, roughly pimpled, with short-pointed tips; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, egg-shaped, granular, 1.2-1.4 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 apoda Clokey
Carex atrata subsp. atrosquama (Mack.) Hultén
Carex atrata var. atrosquama (Mack.) Cronquist