Rhizomes ascending to erect, 0-5(-20) mm. Staminate spikes 5-8.5 × 0.8-1.3 mm; staminate scales from median portion of spike 2.8-4 × 0.6-1.9 mm, midrib prominent, usually elevated and extending to apex of scale, usually with small teeth (15X). Perigynia 2.3-3.3 × 0.8-1.2 mm; beak with apical teeth 0.1-0.3 mm. 2n = 40.

Fruiting early May-mid Jun. Mesic to rich moist soils on slopes in partial shade of hardwoods, occasionally in drier sites of sandy loam under mixed hardwood-pine, in richer soils than other varieties; 50-900 m; N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

A coastal plain species found sparingly in the northern counties of the lake area. It grows in sandy open woods and on moist sandy borders of marshes or thickets in the dunes, but its preferred habitat is dry black oak ridges. Indiana plants tend to have the culms longer and less arcuate and the pistillate spikes fewer and less congested than in the characteristic plant of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.