Culms round to sharply trigonous, 8-35 cm. Leaf blades 7-25 cm, 0.3-0.7 mm wide near base. Spike (10-)12-26(-30) × 3-7 mm, staminate portion 4-14 mm. Longest pistillate scales 2.9-4.5(-6.5) × 1.9-4 mm excluding awns, usually equaling or longer than perigynia. Perigynia obovate, (2.8-)3-4.8 × 1.4-2 mm; beak 0.2-0.8 mm. Achenes 2.2-3(-3.3) × 1.3-1.9 mm.

Fruiting Apr-Jun. Dry to dryish areas, stable silt-loam or gravel, on slopes, headlands, eroded areas, swales; 100-3100 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Kans., Minn., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., N.Dak., Oreg., S.Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo.