Reed canarygrass
General poisoning notes:
Reed canarygrass (Phalaris
arundinacea) is cultivated and has also escaped across much of southern
Canada. The plant grows well in poorly drained soils subject to prolonged
flooding. The plant has caused animal performance lower than the nutritional
composition of the plant suggests. Sheep in New Zealand exhibited Phalaris
staggers, which includes distress, convulsions, and death. No cases of this
have been reported in North America (Majak et al. 1979, Cheeke and Schull
1985).
Description
Perennial,
rhizomatous; rhizomes extensively spreading. Culms reedlike, erect, leafy,
0.6–1.5 m tall, 6–8-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous, not inflated; leaf blades
10–35 cm × 10–18 mm, tapering to a fine apex; ligule 2–3 mm. Panicle
contracted, linear-oblong in outline, lobed, interrupted, 8–15 cm; branches
short, erect, densely spiculate. Spikelets oblong, laterally compressed, 4–6
mm; glumes narrowly lanceolate, glabrous or puberulous, pale green streaked
darker green or purplish, keel scabrid, wingless or very narrowly winged
upward, apex sharply acute; sterile lemmas equal, subulate, 1.5–1.8 mm,
villous; fertile lemma broadly lanceolate, 3–4 mm, appressed-pubescent upward,
shiny; palea boat-shaped, keels ciliolate. Anthers 2.5–3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.
2n = 28.
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Phalaris arundinacea L.
Vernacular
name(s): reed canarygrass
Scientific family
name: Gramineae
Vernacular family
name: grass.
Geographic Information
Alberta, British
Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova
Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan.
Toxic parts:
Leaves.
Notes on Toxic plant chemicals:
Several indole
alkaloids are found in reed canarygrass, including hordenine, gramine and
5-methoxy-N-methyltryptamine. Other indole alkaloids were also found. In the
interior of British Columbia the concentration of the latter two was found to
increase towards the end of the growing season. Differences were also found in
various cultivars. Cultural practices and environmental factors such as
moisture stress may also increase the amount of alkaloids (Majak et al. 1979,
Corcuera 1989).
Toxic plant chemicals:
Gramine, hordenine,
5Mmethyltryptamine.
Animals/Human Poisoning:
Note: When an
animal is listed without additional information, the literature (as of 1993) contained
no detailed explanation.
Cattle
General symptoms of
poisoning:
convulsions
death
incoordination
muscle
spasms
weight
gain, reduced
Notes on poisoning:
Sheep in New
Zealand have developed Phalaris staggers. Symptoms include incoordination,
stiff stilted gait, muscle spasms, convulsions, recumbency, and death. Similar
symptoms have not been recorded in North America. Gross lesions are found in
the nervous system, including gray to blue discoloration of the brain stem and
yellow brown granules in the cytoplasm of nerve cells (Cheeke and Schull 1985).
Sheep
General symptoms of
poisoning:
Coma.
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