Spikes dense. Pistillate scales usually reddish brown with paler midvein more than 0.2 mm wide and extending to tip, apex usually obtuse. Perigynia ± spreading, green or gold with red-brown or purple blotches.

Fruiting summer. Wet meadows, bogs; below 2400 m; B.C.; Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash., Wyo.