Culms erect or, sometimes, nodding, slender, 15-60 cm. Leaves mid green to yellowish or gray-green, (1-)1.5-2.5 mm wide. Inflorescences erect or, sometimes, nodding, 1.5-5(-7) cm; proximal spikes 0.5-2.5 cm apart; terminal spike ellipsoid to subclavate. Perigynia 2-2.5 × 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 56.

Fruiting May-Jul. Damp, temporarily dry areas, thin-peated mires, thickets, woodlands, heaths, rocky slopes; 0-3500 m; Greenland; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Ga., Idaho, Ind., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., Tenn., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

The mostly northern and western North America, Carex brunnescens subsp. brunnescens grades to subsp. sphaeostachya in the southeastern United States.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 10

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU