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u'DA D MRCS Plant Fact Sheet • • E BLUEJOINT Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) P. Beauv. Plant Symbol = CACA4 Contributed by: USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center, Corvallis, Oregon Alternate Names: Other common names include bluejoint reedgrass, Canada bluejoint, Canadian reedgrass, meadow pinegrass, marsh reedgrass, and marsh pinegrass. There are four botanical varieties. Uses: Bluejoint is a mid-sized to tall native grass useful for wetland restoration and enhancement as well as shoreline and streambank stabilization. Creeping underground shoots (rhizomes) improve the plants ability to bind soil, especially along higher gradient streams and waterways. It is included in hydroseeding mixtures for drainage ditches designed to filter stormwater. This species provides forage for bison, elk, and deer, as well as food and habitat for small mammals, waterfowl, birds, and bears. It furnishes substantial amounts of herbage and stands have been hayed in the Midwestern states. Forage value varies widely by region with ratings from poor to good for all classes of livestock. Palatability is considered fair at best regardless of livestock type. It is highest in the spring prior to maturity. Status: Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values). Description and Adaptation: Bluejoint is a long lived, perennial cool season grass with stout stems that grows 60 to 180 cm tall. There are 3 to 8 prominent joints (nodes) along the stems. This species spreads slowly (5 to 15 cm/year) by rhizomes forming a sod. Leaves are ribbed, lax, rough to the touch, and 3 to 8 mm wide. The flower head (panicle) is rather narrow to open and loosely branched, upright to drooping when mature, and 10 to 20 (30) cm long. Flowering occurs in late June or July and the seed matures in August. The tiny seeds have fine hairs attached at one end of their hull and are easily windborne. They remain viable in the soil for up to 5 (7) years. Bluejoint occurs from low to mid- elevation across most of Canada and the United States, except for the Southeast. Adaptation: Bluejoint can be found in a wide variety of environments including meadows, open woods, wet thickets or swamps, marshes, bogs, ditches, and the margins of streams and lakes. It can readily colonize disturbed areas especially in colder northern forests following logging or fire. This species thrives in more nutrient rich, saturated soils, peat, or deep, fine textured substrates that are moist all summer. Reportedly, bluejoint only withstands seasonal inundation and temporary spring flooding up to 15 cm deep. However, stands have maintained themselves for several years in permanent standing water at similar depths. This species is adapted to very acid to slightly alkaline soils (pH 3.5 to 8). Key to identification: This species resembles reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea) but the latter is coarser textured, has much larger, smooth seed, and produces reddish rhizomes near the soil surface. Consult a botanical key to distinguish bluejoint from other Calamagrostis species. Relative abundance in the wild: Common in many areas of the northern boreal and temperate forests, it is scarce to nonexistent in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, but more common along the Pacific Coast United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials <http://plant-materials.nres.usda.gov/> Plant Fact Sheet/Guide Coordination Page <http://plant-materials.nres.usda.gov/intranet/pfs.htrnl> National Plant Data Center <http://npdc.usda.gov> USDA NRCS Corvallis PMC