Plants with loose, branching system of slender, pale brown rhizomes. Culms very slender, nodding, 15-60 cm, exceeding leaves, scabrid. Leaves: basal sheaths pale brown abaxially, inner band white-hyaline, truncate at summit; ligules broader than long; blades mid to dark green, flat, 15-30 × 0.75-1.5 mm, scabrid. Inflorescences 1.5-2.5 cm × 3-5 mm; proximal bract 5-20 mm; distal bracts scalelike. Spikes 2-4(-5), proximal separate, distal aggregate, globose, 3-5 × 2-4 mm. Pistillate scales white-hyaline with green center, ovate, narrower and shorter than perigynia, apex acuminate. Perigynia 1-6, pale green, often brown or even purplish in age, plump, 2.25-3 × 1.3-1.5 mm, membranous, shiny. Achenes red-brown, oblong-elliptic, 1.5-1.75 × 1 mm, glossy. 2n = 70. Fruiting May-Aug. Swamps, bogs, wet meadows, mossy and shady coniferous woods; 0-3500 m; Greenland; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Conn., Idaho, Ind., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., S.Dak., Utah, Vt., Wash., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia.