General: Perennial, tufted herb from thick, creeping rhizomes; stems slender, scattered or loosely clustered, 6- to 8-angled with a vascular bundle under each angle, 5-40 cm tall.
Leaves: Sheaths conspicuously reddish-purple toward the bases, blunt-tipped; blades lacking.
Flowers: Spikes solitary, terminal, egg-shaped, 3-10 mm long, 10- to 30-flowered.
Fruits: Outermost scale relatively large and broad, globe-shaped, usually with firm, often greenish areas toward the bases on the midribs, the other scales narrower, usually 2-3 mm long, mostly dark except for the pale, translucent tips, the lowest scale usually
Lakeshores, streamsides and wet meadows in the steppe and montane zones; rare in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains and N of 50degreeN; N to SW AK, E to NF and S to ME, MA, NC, GA, MS, TX, NM, ID and WA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
