General:
Perennial herb from slender, long-creeping rhizomes; stems solitary or few, 10-30 (40) cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, translucent towards the stems; blades 6 to 12 per stem, flat or nearly so, gradually tapering to the tips, 1.5-3 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, the terminal one lanceolate, 1-3 cm long, with male flowers, the lower 2 to 4 spikes cylindrical, 1-3 cm long, remote, long-stalked below, short-stalked above, with female flowers, erect; bracts subtending the female spikes leaflike, 2 to 3 times the length of the spikes, sheathing, the sheaths 5-15 mm long.

Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical or broadly egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.3-2 mm wide, reddish-brown, the margins translucent, the centres greenish, plano-convex, smooth, obscurely 15- to 35-nerved, crowded, erect to ascending, unstalked, the beaks slightly bidentate, 0.2-0.4 mm long; female scales broadly egg-shaped, yellowish-green to reddish-brown with translucent margins and green centres, narrower and 1/2 the length of the perigynia; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.7-2 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