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Stems (1–)3–7 dm, scaberulous on the angles above, scattered on long, stout, black or brownish-black, monopodial rhizomes; lvs basally disposed, ± elongate, ± flat, mostly 1–3 mm wide; spikes mostly 6–25, androgynous or some of them wholly pistillate (often some plants largely pistillate and others largely staminate), sessile, inconspicuously bracteate, less than 1 cm, aggregated into a thick-cylindric to ± ellipsoid or ovoid head 1.5–3.5(–5) cm; scales generally ± concealing the perigynia, these ± ovate or lance-ovate to elliptic, 2.9–3.9 mm, planoconvex, sharp-edged and ± serrulate distally, inconspicuously several-nerved dorsally, nerveless ventrally, with a prominent beak 0.6–1.3 mm; achene lenticular; 2n=60. Open, moist or wet, often alkaline places, chiefly on prairies; B.C. to Calif., e. to Io. and Minn., and intr. e. along salted highways to s. Que. and s. N.Y.
