Bog stitchwort is a rhizomatous perennial plant, with smooth, four-angled stems up to 40 cm (16 in) tall.

Each flower is around 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter, with 10 stamens, 3 stigmas, five lanceolate–triangular, green-coloured but scarious-margined sepals, and five slightly shorter white petals.

[3] Bog stitchwort grows in various types of wetland habitat; in the British Isles, it is especially characteristic of areas poached by cattle.

[5] It is thought to be native to eastern parts of North America, but to be an introduced species in the Pacific Northwest.

[2] It has also become naturalised in South America, in Asia, where it has become a weed of rice fields,[6] and on the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, where it is an aggressive invasive species.