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![]() | Family Name: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae) |
Scientific Name: | Phalaris paradoxa | ![]() | ||||||
Status: | Native to the Mediterranean and western Europe but widely naturalised. | ![]() | ||||||
Plant Description: | Tufted annual grass to 90 cm high with hairless but slightly rough leaves to 15 cm long and 9 mm wide. The flower-heads are dense, cylindrical, spike-like panicles from 3-10 mm long. Spikelets are 5-8 mm long with 3-nerved, long-pointed glumes with wings on the central nerve (or keel) with sharp points. Each spikelet has 3 flowers but the lower two are sterile and often minute or reduced to swellings. | ![]() | ||||||
Habitat: | Widespread across northern Victoria in irrigation ditches and on seasonally wet areas.
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Comments: | Similar to other Canary-grasses, including Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica) and Lesser Canary-grass (P. minor), from which it is largely distinguished by the nature of its winged glumes. | ![]() |