Montana Field Guide

Caespitose. Stems erect, 2–40 cm. Leaves mainly basal; blades 1–3 mm wide. Inflorescence of 2 to 5 arching-pedunculate spikes; the lowest bract shorter than the inflorescence. Spikes: the uppermost male, ca. 5 mm long; the lower female, 4–12 mm long, cylindric. Perigynia spreading to ascending, green to tan, narrowly ovoid, glabrous, 2.5–3.5 mm long with a beak ca. 0.5 mm long; stigmas 3. Female scales pale with a darker midstripe, shorter and ca. as wide as the perigynia. Achene 3-sided, nearly filling the perigynium (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Wet, usually organic soil of stream banks, wet meadows, fens, turf, montane to alpine (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).