S. nigricans: stems stiff, rush-like, about a foot high; leaves short, stiff, almost radical; spikelets several, dark, shining brown, almost black, closely sessile, in compact terminal heads, with an involucre of 2-3 broad brown bracts, one of which has a stiff, erect, leaf-like point. - Bogs and marshes, chiefly near the sea. Fl. June.