Montana Field Guide

Plants rhizomatous, dioecious. Stems 10-40 cm, shorter than leaves. Leaf blades 1.5-4 mm wide. Pistillate inflorescence: spikelets generally 1, sometimes 2, upper generally larger; spikelet bract wanting or if present then shorter than spike, sometimes leaf-like and sheathing; floral bract obtuse or with a small point, equal to or longer than the perygynium in width, ciliate or not, often minutely hairy, brown to black with wide white margin. Perygyinia 20-40 per spikelet, ascending, 2-3.5 mm long, 1-1.7 mm wide, 3-sided, faintly veined, purplish, faces minutely hairy (at least near beak), beak 0.4-0.7 mm long; fruit 1.5-2.1 mm long, 0.7-1.1 mm wide, more or less equal to length of peryginium body (Mastrogiuseppe, 1993, The Jepson Manual).

Rocky, seasonally wet areas.