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

General:
Perennial, tufted herb from smooth fibrous roots; stems 7-35 (50) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths brown to yellowish-brown, persistent, with conspicuous dried blades from the previous year at flowering time; blades linear, mostly 0.4-1.5 mm wide, either surpassing or shorter than the stem.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow panicle, 1.5-4 cm long, mostly 3-8 mm wide, with 3 to 12, terminal, erect, 1.2- to 3-mm long, 0.4- to 1.1-mm wide spikes, the spikelets each usually with 1 male and 1 female flower, the male flower above the female flower; involucral bracts solitary, scalelike or leaflike and bristle-tipped.

Fruits:
Scales brownish, with broad, translucent margins; stigmas 3; achenes compressed, 3-angled, 2.3-3 mm long.