General:
Perennial, loosely tufted herb from slender, scaly rhizomes; stems 5-15 (20) cm tall, usually much longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths light brown, the lower ones bladeless and thread-like; blades 5 to 9 per stem, flat, the margins rolled-under, gradually tapering to the tips, 1-3 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 or 4, the terminal one lanceolate, 3-7 mm long, with male flowers, the lower 2 or 3 spikes shortly cylindrical, 4-8 mm long, unstalked or short-stalked, with female flowers, erect; bracts subtending the female spikes reduced to bladeless sheaths, 1 cm long or less.

Fruits:
Perigynia broadly egg-shaped, 3-3.5 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, pale greenish or straw-coloured, 3-angled, stiff-hairy, 2-ribbed and several-nerved, 5 to 12, crowded, erect, short-stalked, the beaks 0.3-0.7 mm long, bidentate; female scales broadly egg-shaped, brown, with translucent margins, much shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.4-2 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