Leaves: One to few near the bases, variously developed in different plants, sometimes with normal sheaths and blades; blades elongate, slender, up to as long as the stem, sometimes the lower ones reduced to scales, the uppermost ones with sheaths and very short blades.
Flowers: Spikes solitary, appearing terminal or subterminal, often set at an angle to the stems, several- to many-flowered, 2-5.5 mm long; involucral bracts solitary, conspicuous, appearing merely as enlarged scales with broad, blunt awn tips, about 1 mm long or leaf like and up to about 1 cm long, nearly equal to or surpassing the spikes.
Fruits: Scales numerous, often reddish-tinged, obscurely to evidently nerved with fine parallel lines mostly 1.2-2 mm long, the midribs tending to be enlarged, greenish or pale, often very shortly exserted as minute tips; perianth bristles lacking, but the filaments sometimes persisting and appearing like slender, flattened bristles; achenes broad, 3-angled, pale reddish-brown, dull, smooth, 1 mm long or less, with more or less abruptly, sharp-pointed tips.
Marshes, tidal flats and beaches in the lowland zone; frequent in SW BC, rare northward along the coast; S to TX and CA; cosmopolitan, Eurasia, S America, Australia and New Zealand.
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)
