Annual with a short, quickly deliquescent taproot; lvs narrowly linear, 3–8 cm; scapes several or many, 3–10 cm; spikes 2–6 cm, seldom longer, loosely fld; bracts ovate, seldom equaling the cal, the central herbaceous part about as wide as the scarious margins, distinctly saccate at base; anterior sep inequilateral, with narrow midvein and wide scarious margins; posterior sep similar but conduplicate and sharply keeled; cor-lobes 0.5 mm, in age ± erect and forming a beak above the fr; stamens 2; fr ovoid,convexly rounded at the tip, 1.5–2 mm, circumscissile shortly below the middle; seeds mostly 4, 0.8–1.3 mm; 2n=12. Dry sandy soil; Mass. and s. N.Y. to Ill. and Kans., s. to Fla. and Tex., most common westward.
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