Australian phalaris

Phalaris aquatica, commonly called Australian phalaris, bulbous canary-grass, or hardinggrass, is a robust tussock-forming perennial grass in the family Poaceae native to the Mediterranean basin and widely introduced as a pasture grass in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, and southern Africa. Plants form dense clumps 60-150 cm tall with stout erect culms swollen and bulbous at the base. Leaf blades are flat, 10-30 cm long and 4-10 mm wide, glabrous, often glaucous, and rough on the margins; the ligule is membranous, blunt, and 5-8 mm long. The inflorescence is a dense cylindrical to ovoid panicle 4-14 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, with closely appressed branches giving a spike-like appearance, composed of laterally compressed spikelets 5-7 mm long. Glumes are keeled and conspicuously winged. Flowering takes place in late spring. The species contains tryptamine and beta-carboline alkaloids that can cause neurological and cardiac toxicity (so-called phalaris staggers) in livestock grazing it heavily.