Herbs, perennial, tufted, 3--9 dm. Rhizomes densely branching. Culms few to many. Cataphylls 1--3. Leaves basal, 0--1(--2); auricles 0.2--0.4(--0.6) mm, scarious to leathery; blade nearly terete but slightly channeled adaxially, 10--50 cm x 0.7--1.8 mm, margins entire.. Inflorescences falsely lateral, 5--35-flowered, loose to congested, 1--8 cm; primary bract exceeding inflorescence. Flowers: pedicels 0.5--2.5 mm; bracteoles 2; tepals dark green, lanceolate, 3.5--5 mm; inner series slightly shorter, apex acute; stamens 6, fewer in cleistogamous flowers, filaments 0.8--1.2 mm, anthers 0.5--1.1 mm; style 0.9--1.3 mm. Capsules light to dark brown, 1-locular, widely ovoid to nearly globose, 3.5--5 x 2.6--3.2 mm. Seeds light to dark brown, oblate, 0.55--0.73 mm, not tailed. 2n = 80.

Flowering and fruiting spring--early summer. Springy, wet woodlands, stream banks, marshy areas, flatwood depressions, and shaded or exposed disturbed, sites with poor drainage; Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ky., La., Md., Miss., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Okla., S.C., Tenn., Tex.as, Va.

Stems densely cespitose, 4-10 dm, erect or decurved above, often surrounded by old basal sheaths; lvs all basal except the invol one; sheaths firm, often darker upwards, with firm rounded auricles; blades elongate, subterete, narrowly channeled on the upper side; invol lf erect, resembling the stem but channeled, 1-2 dm; infl 2-4 cm; fls prophyllate; tep lance-ovate, acuminate, widely spread by the fr, 3.3-4.5 mm; fr 3-4 mm, globose-ovoid, only obscurely angled, shining brown, unilocular, with narrow partial partitions, scarcely dehiscent, occasionally with a slender beak to 1 mm; seeds 0.5-0.8 mm, substipitate, angularly obconic or turbinate, evidently ribbed vertically and with finer cross-ridges. Wet ground, swamps, or brackish marshes; N.J. to Fla., and Tex., n. in the interior to Ky. and Okla. (J. setaceus, misapplied)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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