Stems loosely clustered in small tufts on short or long rhizomes, 2-7 dm, phyllopodic, the remains of old lvs commonly persistent at base; roots covered with a yellowish brown, felty tomentum; lvs flat, 1-3 mm wide; terminal spike staminate, 0.7-1.5 cm; pistillate spikes 1-4, nodding on slender peduncles, often with a few staminate fls at the base, the lowest subtended by a nearly or quite sheathless leafy bract 2-10 cm; pistillate scales light to dark brown, often with green midstripe, generally longer and narrower than the perigynia and tapering to a long, narrow point or short awn; perigynia much as in no. 178 [Carex limosa L.], 2n=58, ca 60. Acid swamps and Sphagnum-bogs; circumboreal, s. in our range to N.J., Pa., Mich., and Minn.

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

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.