Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Perennials with somewhat tuberous rhizomes clothed with reddish brown fibers.

Stems: culms solitary or several together, 10–50 cm tall, 0.5–2 mm in diameter near base, trigonous, smooth.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. alternate Blades linear, shorter than to equaling the culm, rarely slightly longer than the culm, 1–3.5 mm wide, soft and flexible to somewhat stiff. Margins entire. Sheaths reddish brown. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences umbelliform, simple or partially compound, moderately dense, subcapitate with very shortened rays, 2–4 cm long, 3–10 cm wide, the rays 0–3, 0–1.7 cm long, spikes 3–10, ascending to spreading, usually solitary, rarely with 1–2 short lateral spikes at base of primary spike, cylindrical but narrowed toward base, 0.8–3 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, moderately densely bearing numerous spikelets; involucral bracts 3–5, divergent, much longer than the inflorescence, the lowest one 6–20 cm long; spikelets 7–9–flowered somewhat compressed, spreading, strongly so with age, oblong-lanceolate–to linear lanceolate, 4–8 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide apex acute, rachilla winged; glumes pale yellowish brown, with numerous dark reddish brown flecks or lines, thick but membranous, moderately densely imbricate, oblong–ovate or ovate–elliptic, 2–3 mm long, 1–1.6 mm wide, apex obtuse to somewhat truncate, the green keel prolonged into a recurved mucro. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Corolla (petals) absent. Stamens 3. Ovary superior.

Fruit: Achenes ellipsoid trigonous; ca. 1.2 mm long; ca. 0.7 mm wide. Seeds 1; seed coat thin; free from pericarp; embryo basal; endosperm abundant.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Apparently rare in dry and perhaps mesic and subalpine forest.

Elevation Range: 300–1830 m.