Canada blue joint is a cool-season, long-lived grass. It spreads by rhizomes creating colonies. It produces many spikelets on slender stalks create an open panicle. Spikelets are purplish in bloom, maturing to tan. This grass often grows alongside sedges and is an important species for wetlands restoration. Its rhizomatous habit makes it a good species for soil stabilization. Canada blue joint is found in swamps, meadows, marshes, open woods, bogs, ditches, stream banks, and lake edges.