Loosely tufted, 3-6 dm; lvs soft and flaccid, softly hairy, 3-7 mm wide, the 2 mid-lateral veins conspicuous on the upper side; spikes 2-4, approximate or the lower somewhat separate; lowest bract sheathless, with blade surpassing the spike; upper bracts smaller; terminal spike staminate, slender, 1-2 cm; lateral spikes pistillate, sessile or short-peduncled, 8-15 mm; pistillate scales obovate, with broad hyaline margins and green midvein excurrent into a short awn nearly or quite equaling the perigynium; perigynia trigonous, hairy, nerveless, the obovoid body 2.6-3.5 mm, abruptly rounded into a slender erect beak 0.8-1.3 mm; achene trigonous, filling the perigynium. Woods; N.B. and Que. to Minn., s. to Md., W.Va., Ky., Mo., and e. Kans.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.