Ivory sedge is a clump-forming sedge that spreads gradually by slender, light brown rhizomes to form colonies.[1] It has narrow leaves, 0.2 to 1 mm (0.008 to 0.039 in) wide and 3 to 21 cm (1 to 8 in) long, that grow from the base of the plant and alternately on the culms (stems). The culms are longer than the leaves, 7 to 31 cm (2+3⁄4 to 12+1⁄4 in) long.[7] The bases of the leaves and culms are wrapped in a light brown sheath. The leaves dry up after the growing season and persist at least until the next spring. [1]
Each inflorescence (flower cluster), at the end of a culm, has one staminate (male) spike above two to three pistillate (female) spikes, each enclosed at the base by a tubular bract.[1] There are 3 to 10 florets in each pistillate spike. The scales under the florets are white and translucent.
Pollinated florets produce three-sided[1] seeds (achenes) that are glossy blackish-brown when ripe, 1.5–2.2 mm (0.059–0.087 in) long by 0.7–1.1 mm (0.028–0.043 in) wide.[5] The stem of the inflorescence and the stems of the pistillate spikes are very short at blooming time, but lengthen a great deal by the time the seed matures, so that the clusters of achenes overtop the withered staminate spike and the stem is always longer than the leaves.[1]
^Weakley, Alan S. (2018), Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, working draft of 20 August 2018, University of North Carolina Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
