Stems clustered, 4–8 dm, stout but soft, 2–3 mm wide when pressed, usually shorter than the lvs; main lvs 3–6 mm wide; sheaths somewhat prolonged beyond the base of the blade, not cross-corrugated; infl 2–4 cm, slender, simple or compound, the lower spikes sometimes slightly separated; scales triangular-ovate, usually shorter than the perigynia; perigynia becoming largely or wholly golden-brown, flatly planoconvex, ovate, 3.2–3.8 mm, half as wide, rounded at base, inconspicuously 2–3-nerved dorsally, nerveless ventrally, tapering into a rough beak two-thirds to nearly as long as the body. Wet meadows; Que. and Me. to Mich., Minn. and Sask., s. to N.J., Ind., and Mo.