Phalaris aquatica L.

vernacular bulbous canarygrass — species · Poaceae

USDA: PHAQ
GBIF: 5289746
Rank: species

bulbous canarygrass (Phalaris aquatica) — Platephotograph · stanley8mCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Phalaris

§2a

Native status, by region

HI Hawaii Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 1 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: High
Fire: High
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: High
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 7 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 240 min.
Precipitation: 16–40 in/yr
pH range: 5.4–7.5
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Rhizomatous
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 4 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Black
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Spring
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 340,800
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 1 I ▾

Flathead 30029

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PHAQ ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5289746 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z