The inflorescence is a small head of several spikelets which may be brown to bright orange, red, purplish, or pale and translucent.

The plant reproduces sexually by seed and colonies spread via vegetative reproduction, sprouting from the rhizomes.

[1] It grows in many types of coastal and inland wetland habitat, as well as sagebrush, desert scrub, chaparral, and plains.

This plant, particularly the rhizomes, are a food source of muskrat, nutria, and other animals; it is strongly favored by the snow goose in its wintering grounds.

[1] It is a model organism in the study of salt marsh ecology and its response to climate change (currently global warming).