Culms 20-100 cm. Inflorescences: larger involucral bracts 2-12 cm; peduncles 5-60 mm, glabrous or scabrous on angles. Scales brown to gray proximally, paler distally, usually with broad white membranous margins. 2n = 58. Fruiting summer. Marshes, bogs, fens, meadows, shores; 0-3500 m; Greenland; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Oreg., S.Dak., Utah, Wash., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia.