General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short, stout rhizomes; stems 20-30 cm tall, from shorter than to slightly longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths pale green or bluish-green, the lower ones reduced, numerous, flat or channeled, the margins rolled-under, gradually tapering to the tips, 2-3 mm wide.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 5, the terminal one lanceolate, 6-12 mm long, with male flowers and with a few female flowers at the bases, the lower spikes 2 to 4, shortly cylindrical, 6-12 mm long, short-stalked, with female flowers, erect (the lowermost 1 or 2 spikes sometimes rising from the bases on long stalks); bracts subtending the female spikes awnlike, 1 cm long or less.

Fruits:
Perigynia broadly club-shaped, 3.5-4.5 mm long, 1.3-1.6 mm wide, pale greenish or straw-coloured, 3-angled, obscurely hairy, 2-keeled, nerveless, crowded, erect, long-stalked, beakless; female scales broadly egg-shaped, broadest at the tops, with short awns, purplish, with paler midribs, slightly shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 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