General: Perennial, tufted herb from short rhizomes; stems 10-30 cm tall, much exceeding the leaves.
Leaves: Sheaths reddish-dark towards the bases; blades flat, 2-7 mm wide, the lower ones not much reduced.
Flowers: Spikes usually 3, unstalked to short-stalked below, 0.6-2.5 cm long, the terminal one with both female and male flowers, the female flowers towards the tips, the lower 1 or 2 spikes with female flowers, erect; bract subtending the spikes short-sheathing, leaflike, about equalling or shorter than the spikes.
Fruits: Perigynia egg-shaped, flattened, 2.7-3.5 mm long, 1.8-2 mm wide, reddish-black, flat, the margins translucent, 2-nerved near the margins, the beaks short, less than 0.4 mm long; female scales broadly egg-shaped, about as long as and wider than the perigynia, pointed at the tips, reddish-black, roughly pimpled, with white translucent margins and tips; stigmas 3; achenes 3-angled, granular, 1.3-1.7 mm long.
Dry meadows and rocky slopes in the upper subalpine and alpine zones; common throughout BC in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, infrequent in coastal SW BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to SW AB and S to NM, AZ and CA.
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)
