Phalaris angusta
Phalaris coerulescens
narrow canarygrass, timothy Canary grass
sunol grass
10-170 cm.
70-200 cm, swollen at the base.
2-20 cm long, 0.6-1.5 cm wide, cylindrical, discontinuous, sometimes lobed;
branches sometimes evident, spikelets borne singly, not clustered.
3-12 cm long, 1-2.3 cm wide, ovoid to cylindrical;
branches with groups of 4-7 staminate (rarely sterile) spikelets clustered around a terminal pistillate or bisexual spikelet;
pedicels glabrous or sparsely hispid;
disarticulation below individual bisexual spikelets or below the spikelet clusters.
homogamous, with 3 florets, terminal floret bisexual;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the sterile florets.
heterogamous, some staminate or sterile, others bisexual or pistillate, with 1-3 florets, if more than 1, lower floret(s) sterile and highly reduced, terminal (or only) floret staminate, pistillate, or bisexual.
2-6 mm long, 0.6-1.1 mm wide, rectangular, often purplish, keels winged, scabrous, wings about 0.4 mm wide, smooth, lateral veins conspicuous, scabrous, apices mucronate;
sterile florets 2, equal, 0.5-1.5 mm, linear, sparsely and inconspicuously hairy;
bisexual florets 2-3.8 mm long, 0.9-1.5 mm wide, laterally compressed, hairy, particularly distally, shiny, apices tapering;
anthers 0.5-1.3 mm.
usually 5-9 mm long, to 3 mm long on spikelets near the base of the panicle, 1.1-2 mm wide, glabrous or hirsute, keels winged, wings 0.2-0.5 mm wide, entire or irregularly dentate to crenate distally, lateral veins conspicuous, scabrous, apices mucronate, mucros 0.3-0.7(1) mm;
sterile florets, if present, to 1/10 as long the sexual florets, glabrous or almost so;
sexual florets staminate, pistillate or bisexual, 2.5-4.5 mm long, 0.7-1.4 mm wide, glabrous or with a few short hairs at the base;
anthers 2.5-3 mm.
2.8-3.3 mm long, 1.2-1.4 mm wide.
4-7 mm, truncate to rounded or obtuse, lacerate;
blades 3-15 cm long, 2-12 mm wide.
4-6 mm, rounded to narrowly acute;
blades 4-20(25) cm long, 1-5(7) mm wide.
= 14.
= 14, 42.
Phalaris angusta
Phalaris coerulescens
Phalaris angusta grows in the contiguous United States, primarily in the south. In South America, it is most abundant in a band from Chile to Argentina; it also grows in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Thellung (1911) considered it to be a South American species that is adventive in North America. Throughout its distribution, it tends to grow in open grasslands and prairies.
Baldini (1995) suggested that Phalaris angusta, P. lemmonii, and P. caroliniana are involved in reciprocal hybridization and introgression, particularly in California.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Phalaris coerulescens is native around the Mediterranean; it is now established in northern Europe and South America. It was found in Contra Costa County, California, in 2000.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
LA Plants
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
