Phalaris aquatica
L. Toowoomba Canary-grassShortly rhizomatous perennial, lower internodes often swollen, culms erect, to 160 cm high. Leaves smooth and glabrous; blade to 30 cm long and 20 mm wide; ligule obtuse, membranous, to 10 mm long. Panicle dense, cylindric, (2–)5–15 cm long. Spikelets 5.5–7 mm long; glumes 3-nerved, subequal, dorsally winged; sterile lemmas linear, the lower up to one-quarter (sometimes lacking), the upper to one-third (but often less) as long as fertile lemma; fertile lemma lanceolate, 3–4 mm long, with appressed hairs. Flowers Nov.–Jan.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, Brid, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, VAlp. Naturalized in all States except ACT and NT. Native to southern Europe. Grown as a fodder-grass but also widely naturalised in ditches along roadsides and in low-lying ground mostly in the vicinity of agricultural land. The plant was popularized as a fodder grass in the early 1900s when seed was distributed (as Phalaris commutata) from Toowoomba Botanic Gardens in Queensland.
Walsh, N.G. (1994). Poaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 356–627. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
