Stems slender, 3-8 dm, erect from stout rhizomes; lvs terete, conspicuously septate, 1-2 mm thick, the uppermost with a normal blade; auricles ovate-oblong, 1-2.5 mm; infl compact to divaricately branched, 3-12 cm, with 4-15 globose, many-fld heads 8-12 mm thick; fls eprophyllate; tep rigid, usually lance-subulate, 2.2-3.2 mm, green or turning brown in age; stamens 3; anthers shortly exsert; fr equaling or usually slightly surpassing the tep, trigonous-subulate, tapering to a prominent beak 0.5-1 mm, unilocular as in no. 31 [Juncus nodosus L.], dehiscent in the basal two-thirds. Wet sandy soil, meadows, and shores; s. N.Y. to Fla. and Tex., mostly on the coastal plain, n. in the interior to w. Ky., s. Mo., and Okla.; also in n. Ind. and sw. Mich.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.