Bluejoint; Canada Reed Grass
Calamagrostis canadensis var. canadensis
Found in wet meadows along streams, high elevation openings, such as grassy balds and cliff bases. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 41%
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 2 West Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits
Cliffs, ledges, rock outcrops, talus and rocky summits where the source does not name the rock. A named rock files the place under its own glade or outcrop type instead.
Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.
Who uses this plant?
7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Calamagrostis
- Apamea sordensBordered Apamea, Rustic Shoulder-Knot
- Ctenucha virginicaVirginia Ctenucha
- Dargida diffusaWheat Head Armywotm Moth
- Leucania pseudargyriaFalse Wainscot
- Limochores mysticLong Dash
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Photedes defectaNarrow-Winged Borer
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Ammophila
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- POACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5T5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

