General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short-creeping rhizomes; stems 5-25 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths light brown, the lower ones bladeless; blades several on each stem, crowded toward the bases, thread-like, the margins in-rolled, 0.5-1 mm wide, typically curving or arching.

Flowers:
Spikes solitary, lanceolate to cylindrical, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, erect, with both female and male flowers, the male flowers towards the tips; bractless.

Fruits:
Perigynia few, lanceolate, 4.5-6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, erect to ascending, reddish-tinged, obscurely compressed-triangular, smooth, nerved, 2 of these prominent, stalked, narrowly wing-margined, the beaks bidentate, about 1 mm long; female scales lanceolate, slightly shorter than the perigynia, the lower ones awn-tipped, the upper ones round-tipped, with broad, green or straw-coloured midribs and brown margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, smooth, 1.3-1.7 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