Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 54 (1753).

Derivation: Old Greek name, from phalos, shining; alluding to the shining appearance of the lemma, or possibly in the alternative sense of the word meaning the ridge of a helmet.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Canary-grasses.

Description:
Annuals or perennials; leaf blades flat; ligule conspicuous, oblong, glabrous.

Inflorescence a spikelike panicle; spikelets with 1 fertile flower, compressed laterally; glumes 2, equal, folded and flat, enclosing the rest of the spikelet, usually light-green, with 3 conspicuously darker green nerves, strongly keeled, the keel more or less winged; sterile lemmas 2 (rarely absent), linear, smaller than the glumes; fertile lemma 1, 5-nerved, becoming crustaceous and shining; palea keeled, with 1 ciliate nerve.

Distribution:  About 20 species from temperate areas. (Vickery (1975) Contr. N.S.W. natn. Herb., Fl. ser.. 19, 2:283-293; descriptions partly from Gardner (1952) Flora of Western Australia 1).

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Spikelets of 2 kinds, 1 fertile surrounded by 6 sterile ones and the group falling as a unit	P. paradoxa 4.
1. Spikelets all fertile and alike, falling singly
2. Annual without a rhizome
3. Panicle ovoid or ovoid-oblong; spikelets 7-8 mm long	P. canariensis 2.
3. Panicle oblong-cylindrical; spikelets 5-6 mm long	P. minor 3.
2. Perennial with a rhizome	P. aquatica 1.

Author: Not yet available