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Phalaris canariensis

(Common Canary Grass)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Canarygras, Kanariegras

Common Names in Arabic:

Hab El Asafeer

Common Names in Croatian:

Cuzka (Inverted Circumflex Accents On C and Z)

Common Names in Danish:

Kanariefrø (Seeds), Kanariefroe, Kanariegræs, Kanariegraes (Plant)

Common Names in Dutch:

Kanariegras (Plant), Kanariezaad (Seeds), Wit Vogeltjeszaad

Common Names in English:

Alpist, Annual Canarygrass, Canary Bird Seed, Canary Grass, Canary Seed, Canary-Grass, Canarygrass (Uk), Canaryseed, Common Canary Grass, Common Canarygrass

Common Names in Estonian:

Kanaari Paelrohi

Common Names in Finnish:

Kanarian Helpi, Kanarianhelpi (Plant), Kanariansiemen (Seeds)

Common Names in French:

Alpiste (Seeds), Alpiste Des Canaries, Blé D´oiseau, Blé Des Canaries (Seeds), Millet Long (Seeds)

Common Names in German:

Kanariengras, Kanariengras (Plant), Kanariensaat (Seeds)

Common Names in Greek:

Kanarosporos

Common Names in Hebrew:

Chafurit Canarit

Common Names in Hungarian:

Kanáriköles

Common Names in Italian:

Canaria, Miglio Lungo (Seeds), Scagliola, Scagliola (Seeds), Scagliola Comune

Common Names in Japanese:

Yarikusayoshi

Common Names in Norwegian:

Kanarigras

Common Names in Polish:

Mozga Kanaryjska

Common Names in Portuguese:

Alpista

Common Names in Russian:

канарейник, Kanareecnik Kanarskij, Kanarejnik

Common Names in Spanish:

Alpiste, Mijo Largo (Seeds)

Common Names in Swedish:

Kanariefrö (Seeds), Kanariegräs (Plant)

Common Names in Turkish:

Kus Yemi

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Physical Description

Species Phalaris canariensis

Annual , loosely tufted . Culms 30-60(-100) cm tall. Uppermost leaf sheaths inflated with short blade ; leaf blades 3-10 mm wide; ligule 3-5 mm. Panicle spikelike, very dense, ovate to oblong-ovate in outline, 1.5-4 cm. Spikelets obovate , strongly flattened, 7-10 mm; glumes oblanceolate , glabrous or puberulent , whitish with green veins, keel broadly winged above middle , wing margin entire, apex acute; sterile lemmas 2, equal, narrowly elliptic , chaffy , 2.5-4 mm, appressed-pilose; fertile lemma lanceolate, 5-6 mm, densely appressed-pubescent, shiny. Anthers 3-4 mm. Fl. and fr. Oct. [source]

Habit: Graminoid

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 36-48" tall.

Habitat

Roadsides and other disturbed places, introduced ; below 3000 m (Ref. 102402).

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,028 meters (0 to 9,934 feet).[2]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Growth

Culture: Space 6-9" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Sp. pl. 1:54. 1753

Name verified on 25-Jan-1996 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 19-Apr-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Phalaris

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 147 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

P. acuatica · P. alpina · P. ambigua · P. americana · P. americana var. picta · P. amethystina · P. ammophila · P. angusta (Timothy Canary Grass) · P. angustata · P. appendiculata · P. aquatica (Bulb Canary Grass (South Africa)) · P. aquatica 'Australia' · P. aquatica 'Uneta' · P. aquatica x · P. arechavaletae · P. arenaria · P. ariculata · P. aristata · P. arudinacea · P. arundenacea · P. arundianacea · P. arundinacea (Gardener´s-Garters) · P. arundinaceae · P. arundinacea 'Bamse' · P. arundinacea 'Dwarf Garters' (Dwarf Ribbon Grass) · P. arundinacea 'Elegantissima' · P. arundinacea 'Feesey's Form' (Reed Canary Grass) · P. arundinacea 'Feesey' (Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass) · P. arundinacea fo · P. arundinacea L. 'Picta' · P. arundinacea 'Luteo-Picta' (Gardeners Garters) · P. arundinacea 'Picta' · P. arundinacea 'Strawberries & Cream' (Gardeners Garters) · P. arundinacea 'Turkey Red' · P. arundinacea var. arundinacea · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Aureovariegata' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Feesey' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Luteopicta' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Luteovariegata' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Picta' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Streamlined' · P. arundinacea var. picta 'Tricolor' · P. arundinacea var. variegata · P. arundinacea 'Variegata' · P. arundinacea 'Yugoslavian' · P. aspera · P. aundinacea · P. avicularis · P. barrelieri · P. bellardi · P. berteroniana · P. brachystachys (Shortspike Canarygrass) · P. brevis · P. bulbosa · P. bulbosum · P. caerulescens · P. caesia · P. caespitosa · P. californica (California Canarygrass) · P. canadensis · P. canariensis (Common Canary Grass) · P. capensis · P. caroliniana (Carolina Canary Grass) · P. chilensis · P. ciliaris · P. ciliata · P. coerulescens (Sunol Grass) · P. colchaguensis · P. colorata · P. commutata · P. cristata · P. crypsoides · P. cuspidata · P. cylindrica · P. daviesii · P. decumbens · P. dentata · P. disticha · P. elongata · P. erucaeformis · P. eruciformis · P. explicata · P. geniculata · P. glomerata · P. gracilis · P. hirtiglumis · P. hispanica · P. hispida · P. humilis · P. hybrid · P. intermedia · P. intermedia var. angusta · P. intermedia var. angustata · P. intermedia var. microstachya · P. japonica · P. laxa · P. lemmonii (Lemmon's Canarygrass) · P. lindigii · P. maderensis · P. maritima

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = 132.150 meters (433.563 feet), Standard Deviation = 226.950 based on 4,751 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009