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Densely tufted; stems slender and lax, 1–6 dm; lvs mainly in a basal cluster, to ca 15 cm, 1–3 mm wide; terminal spike staminate or rarely gynaecandrous, 4–10 mm; pistillate spikes 1–4, usually ± remote, on lax, capillary, nodding or loosely spreading peduncles 0.5–1.5 cm, 5–25-fld, sometimes compound, all subtended by sheathing bracts, of which the upper may have reduced or no blade; pistillate scales mostly shorter but often wider than the perigynia, white-hyaline distally and usually also marginally, otherwise light brown or greenish; perigynia ± elliptic or lance-ovate, 2.4–3.3 mm, tapering to a short, poorly defined beak, obliquely 2-nerved, not much if at all compressed, loosely enclosing the trigonous achene and empty distally, glabrous, or faintly scabrous-serrulate toward the beak, shining brown to olive-green; 2n=36, 54, 56. Streambanks, wet meadows, and wet ledges; circumboreal, s. in Amer. to n. N.Y., Mich., Wis., Minn., and N.M.
Culms to 60 cm. Leaf blades flat or, sometimes, folded (in dwarf individuals), 2–9 cm × (0.75–)1–4 mm. Terminal spike usually staminate, level with or over-topped by some lateral spikes, 4–10 × 0.7–1.4 mm. Lateral spikes 2–4, 6–20-flowered, 5–20 × 3–4 mm, the proximal usually drooping, often ± erect in dwarf arctic-alpine plants. Pistillate scales pale to medium brown with hyaline margins and paler midvein, ovate, 1.8–2.8 × 1–1.5 mm, apex obtuse or acute. Staminate scales pale brown with hyaline margins and green or brown midvein, oblong, 2.5–3.2 × 1–1.2 mm, apex obtuse or acute. Perigynia veinless, except for 2 marginal veins, oblong-ovate, 2.3–3.5 × 0.8–1.2 mm; beak 0.5–1 mm, margins entire or serrulate. Achenes obovoid, 1.2–1.7 × 0.7–1 mm. 2n = 54.
