Description

General: Grass Family (Poaceae). Bluejoint is a tall, erect, cool season perennial grass that is found in wet meadows and prairies. The creeping rhizomes and rootstocks of this species result in natural stands having a hummocky, uneven appearance. The erect stems are slender and not branched and can be 1 to 2 meters tall. The leaves are elongated and very narrow, with a bluish green color and are rough to the touch. The caryopses are ellipsoidal, yellow-brown, smooth, and about 1 to 1.5 mm long. The inflorescence is an open panicle with a caryopsis borne singly in each spikelet (Barkley, 1986).

Flowers June to August and is a typical wind pollinated species like most of the grasses. Calamagrostis canadensis possesses the C-3 photosynthetic pathway for carbon fixation (Waller and Lewis, 1979).

Distribution: For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site. It has a distribution from Greenland to Alaska south to North Carolina, Kansas, and California.

Habitat: Bluejoint survives best in moist to saturated soils, but not soils inundated by water. The species has an extremely broad distribution and a wide ecological amplitude occurring in diverse wetland areas.