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Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea)

• Family: Grass (Poaceae)
• Flowering: April-August.
• Field Marks: This grass has spikelets with 1 flower and 3 or 4 empty scales, rather than 2 empty scales. The leaves may be 1 inch broad.
• Habitat: Marshes, along streams, wet meadows.
• Habit: Perennial herb with scaly, creeping rhizomes.
• Stems: Erect, smooth, up to 4 feet tall.
• Leaves: Flat, elongated, up to nearly 1 inch broad.
• Flowers: Borne in spikelets with many spikelets arranged in a spike-like panicle up to 1 foot long; each spikelet 1-flowered, with 3 or 4 empty scales.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Ovary superior.
• Grains: Ellipsoid, about 1/10 inch long.