E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial herb from freely branching rhizomes; stems scattered or in small clusters, slender to very stout, circular in cross-section, tapered or somewhat flattened, 10-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths firm, reddish-brown, distinctly oblique, purplish or reddish below, somewhat flaring upwards; blades lacking.

Flowers:
Spikes solitary, terminal, lanceolate or narrowly egg-shaped, 5-23 mm long, light to dark brown or chestnut, several-flowered.

Fruits:
Basal scales 1 or 2 (3), empty, the lowest ones nearly encircling the top of the stem; fertile scales mostly 2-4.5 mm long, egg-shaped, nearly sharp-pointed or blunt, reddish-brown or purplish-brown or purplish-black with translucent margins and lighter coloured midribs; perianth bristles 4, sometimes 5 or 6, shortly surpassing the achenes, rarely reduced or lacking, with fine barbs directed backwards; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, yellow to medium brown, finely cellular roughened, spongy, minutely wrinkled, 1.5-2.5 mm long including the well-differentiated tubercles, the tubercles separated from the achenes by constrictions, pyramidal, bulbous, longer than broad, 0.4-0.7 mm long.

Notes:
This is a highly variable polyploid complex which has yet to be studied adequately.