Seed heads. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Leaves and roots. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Line drawing in Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States

Common Name

Paradoxa Grass, Paradoxical Canary Grass

Family

Poaceae

Notes

Introduced annual grass to 1m tall. Leaves with a slightly rough sheath at the base. Ligule a membrane without a fringe of hairs. Leaves flat, 3-28cm long, 2-9mm wide, slightly rough, sometimes slightly glaucous. Spikelets green, 6-8mm long. Flower heads oval to cylindrical. Seeds with 0 bristles, but the outer husks with 2 long and 2 short points.

Description and photo and line drawing of spikelet (Fig. 29e) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 131

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Phalaris~paradoxa

ausgrass2 description with line drawings and photos:   http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/content/phalaris-paradoxa