Sweetgrass root, also known as thatch root, is useful in the treatment of stagnant water, and the plant is 20-80 centimeters tall. Root stout stem white, transverse to the ground, dense, nodes bearing scales, the apex pointed with a sweet flavor. Rods tufted, erect, simple leaves alternate, set at the base, often with broken fibrous leaf sheaths at the base when old. Leaf blades flattened, striped or striped-lanceolate, flowering in summer, panicles terete. Flowers silvery white, densely branched, spikelets 3-4 mm long, stipitate. Glumes ellipsoid, dark brown, white villous.