General:
Perennial, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems 20-60 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, brownish to straw-coloured; blades flat, 1-4 mm wide, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stems.

Flowers:
Spikes 4 to 7, 4-10 mm long, erect to ascending, with both female and male flowers, the female ones towards the tips; bracts subtending the female spikes tubular-sheathing, leaflike, the lower bracts longer than the spikes and their stalks, the upper one reduced.

Fruits:
Perigynia lanceolate to egg-shaped, 2-3.3 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, green to greenish-brown, convex, smooth or fringed above with teeth, 2-nerved marginally, short-stalked, the beaks 0.3-0.6 mm long, entire; female scales egg-shaped, rounded to pointed, brownish, with green centres, with translucent margins, shorter but often wider than the perigynia; stigmas 3; achenes lens-shaped, 1.2-1.5 mm long.

Notes:
This species is closely related to C. capillaris and is sometimes either merged with the latter (Welsh 1974, Taylor 1983) or treated at the subspecific level (Scoggan 1978, Cody 1996).

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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex capillaris subsp. krausei (Boeckeler) B÷cher
Carex capillaris subsp. porsildiana (Polunin) B÷cher
Carex capillaris var. krausei (Boeckeler) Crantz
Carex krausei subsp. porsildiana (Polunin) A. L÷ve, D. L÷ve & Raymond