Vigorously colonial by creeping rhizomes, strongly aphyllopodic, 4–12 dm; main lvs 2–5 mm wide; staminate spikes 1 or 2, the terminal one 3–5 cm; pistillate spikes 1 or 2, densely fld, cylindric, erect, 2–4 cm, sessile or nearly so; lowest bract elongate, surpassing the stem; pistillate scales ovate, half to nearly as long as the perigynia, with red-purple sides and hyaline margins, acute to acuminate; perigynia coriaceous, ovoid, (4–)4.5–6.5 mm, conspicuously many-nerved (the nerves impressed), acuminately tapering into a bidentate beak a fourth as long as the body; achene concavely trigonous. Sandy swamps on the coastal plain; se. Mass. to Fla. Plants of our range have glabrous perigynia and represent the var. brevis L. H. Bailey. The rather ill-defined var. striata, with minutely hairy perigynia, is more southern. (C. walteriana)
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