General:
Perennial, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems 10-35 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; blades flat, 1-3 mm wide, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem, the lowermost stem leaves reduced to scales.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, aggregated into a dense 0.5- to 1.5-cm long ellipsoid head, unstalked, with both female and male flowers, the female ones towards the tips; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, reduced, inconspicuous.

Fruits:
Perigynia narrowly egg-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 1.3-1.5 mm wide, brownish to dark brown, more or less flattened, the margins with narrow wings, lightly several-nerved on the backs, with faint nerves or nerveless below, the beaks shallowly bidentate, about 1.5 mm long, narrowly margined, sometimes toothed; female scales elliptical, dark brown, somewhat shorter and narrower than the perigynia, margins smooth; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.5 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