General: Annual (rarely perennial), tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems usually erect, several- to many-ribbed, 5-50 cm tall.
Leaves: Sheaths firm, blunt; blades lacking.
Flowers: Spikes solitary, terminal, egg-shaped, (2) 5-13 mm long, many-flowered (rarely less than 40).
Fruits: Scales 1.7-2.5 mm long, egg-shaped to nearly circular, the lowest ones sometimes empty, purplish or brownish with pale, translucent margins and greenish midribs; perianth bristles mostly 6 or 7, equalling or surpassing the achenes, or reduced or lacking, with fine barbs directed backwards, brownish; stigmas 2 or sometimes 3; achenes lens-shaped, straw-coloured to dark brown, smooth and shiny, (0.8) 1-1.5 mm long including the flattened, broad-based tubercles, which are appressed to the summits of the achenes, 1/2 to as wide as the achenes, and up to 1/2 as long as them.
Marshes, mud flats and wet meadows in the lowland and montane zones; frequent in SW BC, rare in the Queen Charlotte Islands, SC and SE BC; circumpolar, disjunct E to ON, PQ and NS and S to MA, PA, IN, MO and OR; Eurasia.
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)
