Annual with a short, quickly deliquescent taproot; lvs narrowly linear, 3-8 cm; scapes several or many, 3-10 cm; spikes 2-6 cm, seldom longer, loosely fld; bracts ovate, seldom equaling the cal, the central herbaceous part about as wide as the scarious margins, distinctly saccate at base; anterior sep inequilateral, with narrow midvein and wide scarious margins; posterior sep similar but conduplicate and sharply keeled; cor-lobes 0.5 mm, in age ±erect and forming a beak above the fr; stamens 2; fr ovoid, convexly rounded at the tip, 1.5-2 mm, circumscissile shortly below the middle; seeds mostly 4, 0.8-1.3 mm; 2n=12. Dry sandy soil; Mass. and s. N.Y. to Ill. and Kans., s. to Fla. and Tex., most common westward.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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