Culms 25-100 cm. Leaves: sheath fronts brownish; blades 2-6 mm wide. Spikes: proximal pistillate spikes white, ovate, 7-30 × 5-9 mm, ciliate distally; terminal spike white-hyaline, tinged red-brown, ovate, 5-30 × 2-4 mm. Perigynia green, ca. 5-veined, 3.7-5.5 × 1.5-2.5 mm; beak tip with narrow, white margins. Achenes ovoid to obovoid, 2.8-3.9 × 1.7-2.4 mm. Fruiting summer. Dry, sandy and gravelly meadows, open forests; 1200-3400 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.