Densely cespitose, very slender, erect or ascending, 3–8 dm; main lvs 1–2 mm wide; spikes 3–7, sessile, to 2 cm, usually approximate or overlapping, at least the terminal one gynaecandrous; bracts short; pistillate scales ovate-oblong, shorter than or about equaling the perigynium-body, pale brown or orange-tinged, with hyaline margins, acutish to short-cuspidate; perigynia 6–15, light green, loosely ascending or appressed, planoconvex, lanceolate, 4–5.5 mm, a sixth to a fourth as wide, serrulate distally, sharply nerved on both sides, or only weakly so ventrally, tapering at the spongy-thickened base, the rough-margined, sharply bidentate beak half to two-thirds as long as the body; achene narrow, lenticular, 2 mm. Wet woods, swamps, and bogs; Que. and N.S. to Ont. and Minn., s. to Fla. and Mex.