Lesser Canary-grass

Lesser Canary-grass photos

Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae)

Scientific Name:

Phalaris minor

Stand of Lesser Canary-grass
Photo: A J Brown

Status:

Native to the Mediterranean and western Europe but widely naturalised.

Plant Description:

Tufted annual grass to 100 cm high with hairless leaves to 30 cm long and 12 mm wide. The flower-heads are dense, cylindrical, spike-like panicles from 2-6 mm long. Spikelets are 4.5-6 mm long with 3-nerved glumes having irregularly toothed wings on the central nerve (or keel). Each spikelet has 3 flowers but often the lowest is minute or absent and only the upper is fertile.

Habitat:

Widespread across Victoria; mainly on roadsides, in irrigation ditches or on low-lying and moist areas.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Mallee, Loddon Murray, Central and Northern, Wimmera	S0, *S1	W0, W1, W2
Western, Gippsland	S0, S1, S2	W0, W1, W2

*may be found on or fringing saline sites during the wetter parts of the year

Comments:

Similar to other Canary-grasses, including Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica) and Paradoxical Canary-grass (P. paradoxa), from which it is largely distinguished by the nature of its winged glumes.

Lesser Canary-grass photos


Flower-heads of Lesser Canary-grass Photo: A J Brown	Spikelets of Lesser Canary-grass with exserted anthers Photo: A J Brown

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