Plants densely to loosely cespitose; rhizomes short, no more than 10 cm. Culms trigonous in cross section, 20-100 cm, scabrous-angled distally. Leaves: basal sheaths usually strongly tinged with reddish purple; ligules longer than wide; blades pale to mid green, flat to W-shaped, 2.5-8.5 mm wide, glabrous. Inflorescences 2.5-12(-20) cm; proximal bract 4-30 cm, exceeding inflorescence; proximal (1-)2-3(-4) spikes pistillate, erect or often the proximal pendent; terminal 1 spike staminate. Pistillate scales lanceolate, 2.3-6.5 × 0.5-1.1 mm, shorter than perigynia, margins ciliate, , apex truncate to retuse, scabrous-awned, awn longer than body. Staminate scales scabrous-awned, sometimes also ciliate-margined. Perigynia spreading or the proximal reflexed, strongly 13-21-veined, veins mostly separated by 3+ times their width, confluent at or proximal to mid beak (except for 2 prominent lateral), elliptic, 4.5-7.3 × 1.4-2.1 mm, herbaceous, apex contracted; beak 1.9-2.8 mm, smooth, bidentulate, teeth straight, 0.3-0.9 mm. Stigmas 3. Achenes pale brown, trigonous, smooth. Fruiting May-Jul. Open swamps, sedge meadows, fens, stream, pond, and lakeshores, seeps, springheads, ditches, mostly in calcareous soils; 0-2000 m; B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., Que., Sask.; Ark., Conn., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kan., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.