Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, further eastward across the northern U.S. and southern Canada to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Marshy to moist, gravelly areas, mostly were saline or alkaline.

Flowers: May-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Scapose, herbaceous perennials from woody rhizomes, the scapes 3-12 dm. tall.

Leaves from the rhizome, narrowly linear, the blades flattened, 1.5-2.5 mm. wide, blunt; ligules entire or shallowly lobed, 1.5-4 mm. long.

Flowers perfect, in compact racemes which are over half the length of the plant; pedicles 2-3 mm. long, ascending; perianth segments 6, greenish or purplish, about 2 mm. long; stamens 6, the anthers sessile in the axils of the perianth segments.

Follicles oblong, 5 mm. long, the 6 carpels rounded at the base and with a recurved beak, completely deciduous.