Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across the northern U.S. and Canada to northeastern North America; circumboreal.

Habitat: Bogs and other wet places, from the lowlands to high elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Herbaceous perennial from short, stout rhizomes; also with elongate, slender stolons with a terminal bud; culms 1-3 dm. tall, under 1 mm. thick.

Leaves all basal and reduced to sheaths.

Spikelet terminal and solitary, 4-8 mm. long, 3- to 9-flowered; scales spirally arranged, 2.5-5.5 mm. long, the lower 2 larger than the others but subtending flowers; perianth bristles longer or shorter than the achene; stamens 3; stigma trifid, thickened at the base.

Achenes broadest above the middle, 1.9-2.6 mm. long including the short stylar beak which is continuous with the body of the 3-ribbed, triangular or plano-convex achene.