Spikes lax. Pistillate scales dark purple with paler midvein usually less than 0.2 mm wide and not extending to tip, apex usually acute. Perigynia ascending, usually mostly purple at least distally.

Fruiting summer. Wet meadows, bogs; 1200-2200 m.; B.C.; Calif., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

The two varieties of Carex luzulina recognized above can usually be distinguished by the key characters; some populations are intermediate.