Tufted, 4–9 dm, strongly purple-tinged at base; main lvs 3–8 mm wide; sheaths glabrous, at least ventrally; terminal spike pistillate in the distal third, or rarely wholly staminate; pistillate spikes 3–5, mostly widely separate, cylindric, 3–6 cm × 3 mm, spreading or nodding on slender peduncles nearly as long; bracts all sheathing; pistillate scale ovate to obovate, half to nearly as long as the perigynia, usually obtuse, sometimes short-cuspidate; perigynia ellipsoid or somewhat obovoid, 2.4–3.7 mm, obscurely trigonous, sharply several-nerved, obtuse or rounded at the beakless summit; achene concavely trigonous; 2n=50, 52, 54. Woods, abundant; Nf. and Que. to Man., s. to Va. and Mo.
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