General:
Perennial, tufted herb from short-creeping rhizomes; stems 30-120 cm tall, triangular, smooth, except slightly rough below the inflorescence, slightly longer than the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; ligules as long as wide to slightly wider than long; blades 4 to 8 per stem, cross-walled, borne on the lower 1/2 of the stem, 5-15 mm wide, flat, the margins rolled-under, the lower ones reduced, persistent.

Flowers:
Spikes 4 to 7, the terminal 2 or 3 linear, 1.5-5 cm long, long-stalked, with many male flowers, the lower spikes 2 to 4, cylindrical, 2.5-7.5 cm long, with female flowers, or some with male flowers above the female flowers, long-stalked, the lowermost drooping; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless, the lowest longer than the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Perigynia elliptical, 5-9 mm long, 1.7-3 mm wide, yellowish-green to reddish-brown, somewhat inflated, smooth, shiny, strongly nerved, contracted into long beaks 1.5-3 mm long, the beaks bidentate with straight teeth; female scales lanceolate to egg-shaped, pointed, narrower and shorter than the perigynia, yellowish- to reddish-brown, with 3-nerved, lighter centres and narrow, translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, 1.7-2.4 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:
Mid Summer

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

Source:  The USDA

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex inflata var. utriculata (Boott) Druce
Carex rhynchophysa Fisch., C.A. Mey. & Avé-Lall.
Carex rostrata var. utriculata (Boott) L.H. Bailey