Phalaris

Photos of Phalaris

Family Name: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae)

Scientific Name:

Phalaris aquatic (syn. Phalaris tuberosa)

Mature Phalaris plants at the end of the growing season

Phalaris plants at the end of the growing season
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Toowoomba Canary-grass, Harding Grass, Bulbous Canary-grass

Status:

Native to southern Europe but naturalised throughout Australia.

Plant Description:

Shortly rhizomatous perennial grass to 160 cm high with smooth, hairless leaves to 30 cm long and 20 mm wide. The lower internodes of the stems are often swollen. Flower-heads are dense, cylindrical, spike-like panicles from 5-15 mm long. Spikelets are 5.5-7 mm long with 3-nerved, glumes with wings on the central nerve (or keel). Each spikelet has 3 flowers but the lower two are sterile and only one-quarter to one-third as long as the fertile flower, which is 3-4 mm long.

Habitat:

Widespread across most of Victoria but only scattered in the Mallee and Alps. Grown as a valuable pasture grass but often found as an escapee on low-lying roadsides, in ditches and the margins of swamps, lakes and rivers. Usually associated with heavier textured soils.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
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:

Distinguished from Reed Canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea) by its non-branched but dense spike-like flower-heads but superficially similar in this regard to the annuals; Lesser Canary-grass (Phalaris minor) and Paradoxical Canary-grass (Phalaris paradoxa). Phalaris is often slow to establish but once it has an extensive root system, it can readily become the dominant plant of a site and particularly when not controlled by grazing, slashing or burning. In these situations it can be a troublesome weed, a potential fire hazard and haven for vermin. Some cultivars of Phalaris have been developed that have moderate salt tolerance and there is some evidence that as even non-selected plants mature, they develop greater salt tolerance.

Photos of Phalaris

Emerging flower-head of Phalaris Photo: A J Brown	Ligule of Phalaris Photo: A J Brown
Spikelets of Phalaris Photo: A J Brown	Dense stand of Phalaris Photo: A J Brown

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