Phalaris lemmonii
Phalaris coerulescens
Lemmon's Canary grass
sunol grass
(7)25-150 cm.
70-200 cm, swollen at the base.
(2)3-20 cm long, 0.6-1.5 cm wide, cylindrical, evidently branched below;
branches to 2 cm, 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 (2)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.
4.5-6.7 mm long, 0.9-1.1 mm wide, acuminate, keels not or only slightly winged, wings to 0.2 mm wide, keels, lateral veins, and adjacent surfaces scabrous;
sterile florets (1)2, 1-1.6 mm, densely appressed-hairy;
bisexual florets 2.7-5.1 mm long, 1.2-1.6 mm wide, shiny, stramineous to gray-brown, mostly hairy with spreading hairs, apices glabrous, strongly acuminate to beaked;
anthers 0.7-2 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.
1.5-8 mm, acute;
blades to 14 cm long, 1-8 mm wide, smooth, shiny, sometimes revolute.
4-6 mm, rounded to narrowly acute;
blades 4-20(25) cm long, 1-5(7) mm wide.
= 14.
= 14, 42.
Phalaris lemmonii
Phalaris coerulescens
Phalaris lemmonii is native to California, but it has also been found in Victoria, Australia. It grows in moist areas, and appears to hybridize with both P. caroliniana and P. angusta (Baldini 1995). The strongly beaked tips of the bisexual florets are a useful distinguishing feature.
Beecher Crampton noted on one unusually small specimen (UTC 230918) that it was the vernal pool ecotype of the species. He did not publish his observations.
Anderson (1961) and Baldini (1995) distinguished Phalaris lemmonii from P. platensis Henrard ex Wacht., a narrowly distributed South American taxon, arguing that it was slightly longer in the length of its ligules, glumes, florets, and anthers, but many California specimens fall within the range given for P. platensis rather than that for P. lemmonii. Phalaris lemmonii is the older name so, if further research shows that the two species should be combined, P. lemmonii will remain as the correct name for plants from the Flora region.
(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
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
