Japan Flora: Stems 50-100 cm. long, erect, 3-10 mm. across, green, simple or with irregular whorls of branches in the middle, smooth, slenderly 10- to 30-grooved, the central cavity 4/5 the diameter of the stem; sheaths 5-12 mm. long, green, tight, the teeth 15-20, small, subulate-lanceolate, acuminate, blackish, scarcely or narrowly scarious on margin; branches ascending, slender, simple, 5- angled, the sheaths green, the teeth 4 or 5, subulate, green, ascending and acuminate; spikes 1-2 cm. long, pedunculate or subsessile. Fruiting May-July. Boggy places;

Hokkaido, Honshu (centr. and n. distr.). s. Kuriles, Sakhalin, Korea, Siberia to Europe, and N. America.

Russia Flora: Plant, up to 120 (150) cm tall. Roots dark brown. Stems thick (6-8 mm in diameter), with one large central cavity, simple or branched in the upper part. Leaf teeth 18-20, linear-lanceolate. Cone solitary, 10-30 cm long. 

All regions of the FEE (Far Eastern flora) (probably also found in Nyukzha and Aldan).  Along the edges of swamps and backwaters, often with the base in water; forms continuous thickets. Used as fodder.  General distribution: European part, Caucasus, Western and Eastern Siberia, Central Asia; Atlantic Europe, Asia Minor, Mongolia, Japan-China, North America. Described from Europe.