''Phalaris arundinacea'', or reed canary grass, is a tall,

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennia ...

that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Other common names for the plant include gardener's-garters and ribbon grass in English, ''alpiste roseau'' in French, ''Rohrglanzgras'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, ''kusa-yoshi'' in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, ''caniço-malhado'' in Portuguese, and ''hierba cinta'' and ''pasto cinto'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

.''Phalaris arundinacea''.
USDA NRCS Plant Guide.

Description

The stems can reach in height. The

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

blades are usually green, but may be

variegated '' Cryptocarya williwilliana'' showing leaf venation and variegated leaves Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the foliage, flowers, and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants, granting a speckled, striped, or patch ...

. The

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s are up to long. The spikelets are light green, often streaked with darker green or purple.''Phalaris arundinacea''.
Flora of China. This is a perennial grass which spreads underground by its thick

rhizomes In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

Uses

A number of

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

of ''P. arundinacea'' have been selected for use as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

s, including variegated (striped) cultivars – sometimes called ribbon grass – such as 'Castor' and 'Feesey'. The latter has a pink tinge to the leaves.''Phalaris arundinacea'' var. ''picta'' 'Feesey'.
/ref> When grown, although drought-tolerant, it likes abundant water and can even be grown as an aquatic plant. Reed canary grass grows well on poor soil and contaminated industrial sites, and researchers at

Teesside University Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

's Contaminated Land & Water Centre have suggested it as the ideal candidate for

phytoremediation Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants. It is defined as "the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronom ...

in improving

soil quality Soil quality refers to the condition of soil based on its capacity to perform ecosystem services that meet the needs of human and non-human life.Tóth, G., Stolbovoy, V. and Montanarella, 2007. Soil Quality and Sustainability Evaluation - An integ ...

and biodiversity at

brownfield Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

sites. The grass can also easily be turned into bricks or pellets for burning in

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

power stations. Furthermore, it provides fibers which find use in pulp and papermaking processes.Andersson, B. and E. Lindvall
Use of biomass from reed canary grass (''Phalaris arundinacea'') as raw material for production of paper pulp and fuel.
internationalgrasslands.org. ''P. arundinacea'' is also planted as a

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

crop or for

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

. This species of ''Phalaris'' may also be used as a source for the psychedelic drugs

DMT Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), also known as ''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (''N'',''N''-DMT), is a serotonergic hallucinogen and investigational drug of the tryptamine family that occurs naturally in many plants and animals, including humans. D ...

5-MeO-DMT 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine), also known as ''O''-methylbufotenin or mebufotenin (), is a naturally occurring psychedelic of the tryptamine family. It is found in a wide variety of plant species, and is also secreted by ...

and 5-OH-DMT (bufotenin), as well as

Hordenine Hordenine is an alkaloid of the phenethylamine class that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, taking its name from one of the most common, barley (''Hordeum'' species). Chemically, hordenine is the ''N''-methyl derivative of ''N''-methyltyra ...

and 5-MeO-NMT; however, N,N-DMT is considered most desirable. Although the concentrations of these compounds is lower than in other potential sources, such as ''

Psychotria viridis ''Psychotria viridis'', also known as ''chacruna'', ''chacrona'', or ''chaqruy'' in the Quechua languages, is a perennial, shrubby flowering plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae. It is a close relative of ''Psychotria carthagenensis'' (a.k.a. ''s ...

'' and '' Mimosa tenuiflora'', large enough quantities of the grass can be refined to make an ad hoc

ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

brew.

Ecology

In many places, ''P. arundinacea'' is an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, particularly in disturbed areas. It has been reported as an invasive weed in

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s, riverside

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

s, and other wetland habitat types around the world. When ''P. arundinacea'' invades a wetland, it inhibits native vegetation and reduces

biological diversity Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Eart ...

.Kim, K. D., et al. (2006)
Controlling ''Phalaris arundinacea'' (reed canarygrass) with live willow stakes: A density-dependent response.
''Ecological Engineering'' 26 219–227. It alters the entire

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

.Lavergne, S. and J. Molofsky. (2004)
Reed canary grass (''Phalaris arundinacea'') as a biological model in the study of plant invasions.
''Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences'' 23(5) 415–429. The grass propagates by seed and rhizome, and once established, is difficult to eradicate.

Distribution

''P. arundinacea'' now has worldwide distribution. It is regarded as native to both North America and Eurasia, but this is debated and it appears that the populations in North America are made up of a mixture of cultivars of both those that were introduced from Europe and indigenous varieties. ''citing, inter alia,''

Chemical properties

Specimens contain varying levels of

hordenine Hordenine is an alkaloid of the phenethylamine class that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, taking its name from one of the most common, barley (''Hordeum'' species). Chemically, hordenine is the ''N''-methyl derivative of ''N''-methyltyra ...

and

gramine Gramine (also called donaxine) is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid present in several plant species. Gramine may play a defensive role in these plants, since it is toxic to many organisms. Occurrence Gramine has been found in the giant reed, ...

. Leaves of ''P. arundinacea'' contain

and related compounds. Levels of beta-carbolines and

have also been reported.

References

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Phalaris arundinacea''Jepson Manual Treatment - taxonomy and distribution within California
{{Authority control Bunchgrasses of Africa Bunchgrasses of Asia Bunchgrasses of Europe Bunchgrasses of North America Flora of Korea Garden plants of Asia Garden plants of Europe Garden plants of North America Grasses of Canada Grasses of the United States Herbal and fungal hallucinogens arundinacea Phytoremediation plants Plants described in 1753 Psychedelic tryptamine carriers Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Grasses of Lebanon