General:
Perennial herb from slender, creeping, purple-black rhizomes; stems 5-20 cm tall, longer than the leaves, arising singly or a few together.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight, blunt at the mouths; blades 4 to 8 per stem, channeled, borne near the base, 1-1.5 mm wide, the lower ones persisting.

Flowers:
Spikes solitary, linear at first, expanding below at maturity, with both female and male flowers, the upper 2/3 of the spike consisting of male flowers, the female flowers below, 5-15 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, erect; bractless.

Fruits:
Perigynia few, egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, glossy, dark brown, obscurely to conspicuously ribbed, unstalked, the beaks translucent, 0.5-1 mm long, deeply bidentate; female scales narrowly egg-shaped, from slightly shorter than to slightly longer than the perigynia, sharp-pointed to short-awned, pale brown, the centres paler, the margins translucent; stigmas 3; achenes broadly 3-angled, 1-1.7 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