Much like no. 21 [Carex spicata Huds.]; roots and basal sheaths blackish-brown, not anthocyanic; ligule short and blunt, about as wide as long; infl a little looser; scales brown to blackish-brown, much narrower and shorter than the body of the perigynium; perigynia widely spreading, 3.5-4.5 mm, over half as wide as long, rounded at base, rather abruptly shortbeaked, not corky-thickened; 2n=56, 58. Native of Europe, naturalized in disturbed sites from N.B. to Pa. and Ont. (C. pairaei; C. echinata, misapplied)

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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