Plants cespitose or not, short-rhizomatous. Culms solitary or not, erect, (25-)40-90(-110) cm. Leaves 6-12; basal sheaths purplish red; sheath of distal leaf 0-1.5(-2.5) cm; ligules rounded, 2.5-6 mm; blades 12-34 cm × 4-11 mm. Inflorescences 2.5-17 cm; peduncles of proximal pistillate spikes 0.7-3.5 cm, basal 2 peduncles 1-4(-12) cm apart; peduncle of terminal spike 0.5-6 cm; bracts leafy, usually sheathless, blades 8-26 cm × 2-7 mm. Spikes: proximal pistillate spikes 1-2(-3), densely (4-)8-35-flowered, separate to aggregated, globular, 2.5-4.2 × 2.6-4.1 cm; terminal staminate spike 1, 0.5-6.5 cm × 1-4 mm. Pistillate scales 1-5-veined, lanceolate-ovate to ovate-orbicular, 4-11 × 2-4.2 mm, apex obtuse to awned, awn to 7 mm, rough. Anthers 3, 2.5-4.8 mm. Perigynia radiating out in all directions, strongly 16-25-veined, rhombic-ovoid, 12.5-20 × 4-8 mm, base cuneate, dull, glabrous or, sometimes, hispidulous; beak poorly defined, 1.5-3 mm. Achenes sessile, ellipsoid to obovoid, faces convex, angles not thickened, 3.3-4.8 × 2.6-3.7 mm; style withering. Fruiting May-Aug. Mesic to wet deciduous forests, forest openings, usually on fine alluvial or lacustrine deposits, riverbottoms; 0-500 m; Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wis. Pubescence on the perigynia of Carex grayi is most frequently found in plants from the Midwest and South.