General:
Perennial, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems 50-90 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; blades flat, 2.5-7 mm wide, borne along the stems, the lower ones strongly reduced.

Flowers:
Spikes 6 to 15, aggregated into an elongated head 2-5 cm long, unstalked, with both female and male flowers, the female ones towards the tips; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, reduced, inconspicuous.

Fruits:
Perigynia narrowly lanceolate, 3-5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, pale green or straw-coloured, more or less flattened, distended over the achenes, the margins winged nearly to the bases, the upper 1/2 fringed with teeth, lightly several-nerved on both sides, the beaks shallowly bidentate, 1-1.2 mm long, narrowly margined and toothed below; female scales elliptical, pointed, brownish, with translucent margins, somewhat shorter and narrower than the perigynia; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.5 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia