General: Perennial, tufted herb from short, stout rhizomes; stems 15-100 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths purplish-red towards the bases; blades flat, 2-6 mm wide, the lower ones much reduced.
Flowers: Spikes 5 to 10, the terminal one with female flowers at the top and male flowers below, the lower spikes 4 to 9, with female flowers, long-stalked, 1-4 cm long, drooping; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, leaflike, longer than the inflorescence.
Fruits: Perigynia broadly egg-shaped, 3.5-4 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, papery thin, pale yellow to green or light brown, marginally 2-ribbed, otherwise faintly nerved, the beaks short, less than 0.4 mm long; female scales lanceolate, much shorter and narrower than the perigynia, pointed at the tips, reddish-black, with light brown margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, stalked, 1.2-1.5 mm long.
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.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Roadsides, ditches, and wet meadows in the lowland and montane zones; common in BC south of 55degreeN, rare in NW BC; amphiberingian, N to AK and S YT, E to AB and S to ID, MT and CA; E Asia.
