General:
Perennial herb from slender, long-creeping rhizomes; stems 10-30 (40) cm tall, arising singly or a few together or sometimes matted, usually exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, brownish or blackish at the bases; blades 3 to 8 per stem, in-rolled on the uppersides or sometimes flat, gradually tapering to the tips, 1-2.5 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes usually either male or female on separate plants, the male inflorescence with many aggregated spikes in a narrowly cylindrical to broadly egg-shaped head, the female inflorescence with many aggregated, but distinguishable, spikes in a cylindrical to nearly globe-shaped head, 1.5-5 cm long, unstalked; bracts of the lowest spike leaflike and longer than the spike, those above reduced and much like the scales.

Fruits:
Perigynia narrowly egg-shaped, 3.5-4.5 mm long, 1.6-1.9 mm wide, straw-coloured to brownish, smooth, obscurely many-nerved, crowded, erect, unstalked, the beaks bidentate, 1-1.5 mm long, finely toothed; female scales lanceolate, straw-coloured to light brown, with translucent margins and green centres, wider and longer than the perigynia; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.7-1.8 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

Flower Colour:
Green

Blooming Period:
Late Spring

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer

Source:  The USDA