General:
Annual, sweet-scented, tufted herb from short rootstocks; stems slender, 3-20 cm tall.

Leaves:
Few, all near the bases; blades mostly 0.5-2 (2.5) mm wide, about as long as the stem.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of dense, more or less short head-like clusters, the terminal unstalked, the others (if present) on slender rays up to 3 cm long, each cluster with dense spikes, the spikelets 6- to 20-flowered, rarely more, 4-10 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, flattened; involucral bracts 2 to 4, elongate, 1-15 cm long, some or all of them much surpassing the inflorescence.

Fruits:
Scales evidently (5-) 7- to 9-nerved, lanceolate to egg-shaped, loose, green, turning brown at maturity, not closely appressed, 1-1.7 mm long excluding the recurved, slender awn-tips, these mostly 0.3-1 mm long; rachillas not winged, persistent, the scales falling from them at maturity; stamens solitary; achenes 3-angled, 0.6-1 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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cyperus aristatus Rottb.
Cyperus aristatus var. runyonii O'Neill
Cyperus inflexus Muhl.
Cyperus squarrosus var. runyonii (O'Neill) S.D. Jones & J. Wipff