General: Perennial herb from short-creeping rhizomes; stems 10-90 cm tall, arising singly, triangular, rough below the inflorescence, longer than the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths tight; ligules as long as wide; blades 4 to 8 per stem, flat, the margins rolled-under, borne on the lower 1/2 of the stem, 2-12 mm wide, the lower ones reduced, persistent.
Flowers: Spikes 4 to 7, the terminal 1 to 3 linear, 1.5-5 cm long, long-stalked, with many male flowers, the lower 1 to 4 spikes cylindrical, 1.5-5 cm long, with female flowers, or some with male flowers above the female flowers, short-stalked, erect to spreading or nodding; bracts subtending the lowest spike leaflike, sheathless or short-sheathing, the lowest longer than the inflorescence.
Fruits: Perigynia elliptical to broadly egg-shaped, 3.5-5 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, yellowish-green or brown to purplish-black, somewhat inflated, smooth, shiny, 2-ribbed, the bases round, short-stalked, the beaks short, 0.1-0.3 mm long, entire or nearly so; femal
Bogs, fens, shorelines and wet meadows in the lowland, montane and subalpine zones; frequent throughout BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to MA, CO, UT and WA; N 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)
