General:
Perennial herb from long, creeping rhizomes and rusty-reddish roots; stems 20-60 cm tall, arising singly or a few together, much longer than the leaves, usually reddish at the bases.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, sometimes breaking into threads at the bases; blades 1 to 3 per stem, deeply channeled, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem, 1-2 mm wide, the lower ones reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 2 to 4, the terminal one linear, 1.5-2.7 cm long, long-stalked, with male flowers, the lower spikes 1 to 3, with female flowers, cylindrical, 1-2.5 cm long, slightly separate, long-stalked, nodding; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, 2-10 cm long, sheathless or short-sheathing, shorter than the inflorescence, the others reduced.

Fruits:
Perigynia egg-shaped to elliptical, 2.3-4.2 mm long, 1.8-2 mm wide, green, somewhat compressed, densely pimpled, with 2 prominent marginal nerves and 4 to 7 other nerves on each face, short-stalked, beakless or short-beaked, the beaks cylindrical, 0.5-2 mm long; female scales egg-shaped to nearly globe-shaped, rounded to pointed or long-pointed, about as long as and as wide as the perigynia, light to dark brown, with lighter, 3-nerved centres; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, unstalked, smooth, 1.5-2.2 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

Flower Colour:
Green

Blooming Period:
Late Spring

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer

Source:  The USDA