Japan Flora: Culms loosely tufted, 20-70 cm. long; leaf-blades 3-5 mm. wide, the basal sheaths bladeless, reddish purple, slightly reticulate-fibrous; spikes 3-6, the ter­minal staminate, linear-oblong, the lateral pistillate, short- cylindric, 1-3 cm. long, peduncled, usually nodding or pendulous, the lower bracts leaflike; pistillate scales broadly lanceolate, dark purplish brown, awned; perigynia slightly longer than the scales, about 4 mm. long, membranous, brown- flecked, compressed-trigonous, several-nerved, setulose-scabrous on the margins and nerves; achenes loosely inclosed; stigmas 2.  Kuriles, Sakhalin, Kamchatka and the Okhotsk Sea re­gion. A rather polymorphic species, with the following variants in our area: 

var. scita. Perigynia oblong-lanceolate to oblong, the upper part transversely wrinkled, the beak erect, somewhat immersed in the upper part of the perigynium. Alpine slopes; Honshu (s. part of centr.); rather rare.

var. brevisquama (Koidz.) Ohwi. Pistillate scales narrower than in var. scita; peri­gynia lanceolate, not wrinkled, the beak gradually narrowed, not immersed. July-Aug. Alpine slopes; Honshu (Japan Sea side of centr. and n. distr.).

var. riishirensis (Franch.) Kuek. Culms slender, slightly scabrous above; lower spikes distinctly peduncled; perigynia oblong to ovate, not transversely wrinkled, abruptly short-beaked. June-Aug. Alpine regions; Hokkaido; rather common. Sakhalin, Kuriles, and Kamchatka.

var. scabrinervia (Franch.) Kuek. Plant some­ what stouter; spikes short-peduncled or sessile, the upper 1 or 2 staminate; perigynia elliptic to broadly so, strongly com­pressed.  Rocks near seashore; Hokkaido (Rebun Isl. and Nemuro).  Sakhalin and Kuriles.

var. parvisquama T. Koyama. Leaf-blades somewhat stiff densely papillose and whitish be­neath, long-acuminate; spikes approximate to contiguous; pistillate scales hdf as long as the elliptic perigynia. Hon­shu (Mount Daisen in Hoki Prov.)