General: Perennial herb from a short rhizome; flowering stems erect, 5-20 (25) cm tall, very slender, smooth.
Leaves: Basal leaves several to many, in fan-like tufts, linear, 2-9 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, usually 3-veined, smooth, sheathing at the base, folded in iris-like fashion, the margins entire; stem leaves lacking or occasionally 1, bract-like and near the base.
Flowers: Inflorescence a compact, head- to spike-like, 0.5- to 3-cm long, terminal cluster of several to many short-stalked flowers, the stalks with bracts at the base; flowers greenish-white, cup-shaped, of 6 similar, distinct tepals, the tepals narrowly oblong, 1.5-3 mm long, spreading; stamens 6; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits: Capsules, 3-lobed and 3-beaked, erect, greenish to straw-coloured, 2-3 mm long; seeds numerous, enclosed in spongy coats, without appendages.
Moist to wet, gravelly flushes, fens, marshy meadows, thickets, turfy shorelines and streambanks in the montane to alpine zones; infrequent in E and N BC, rare in SC BC (Bridge River); circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ND, MI and MN; Greenland, 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)
