Phalaris brachystachys

Short-spiked canary grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Short-spiked canary grass is a naturalized annual found in the Sacramento Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in disturbed areas, cultivated fields, and roadsides at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this grass produces pale green to white spikelets in compact clusters 1.5 to 5 centimeters long. Growing with upright stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms dense, relatively wide grass clumps. Its leaves are flat and green, typical of grass species, with smooth margins and a characteristic linear shape. The small spikelets feature distinctive glumes 6 to 8 millimeters long with wing-like keels and hairy fertile lemmas.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, cultivated fields, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: ScV, SnFrB, SCoR

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.