Phalaris arundinacea 'Picta'

For the PARENT SPECIES; Phalaris arundinacea L., reed canarygrass, is a vigorous, productive, long-lived, perennial, sodforming grass. It is a widespread species native to North America, Europe, and Asia. The numerous broad, moderately harsh, erect leaves are dominantly basal. The coarse, erect stems may reach a height of 6 to 8 feet. Seed is borne in an open panicle which ripens from the top down and shatters readily as it matures. The seed has a short storage life, up to 5 years, and should be checked for germination within 6 months of its use. Reed canarygrass has excellent frost tolerance and is well suited to wet soils that are poorly drained or subject to flooding. It also has good drought tolerance. Growth begins in early spring and continues through the growing season. Regrowth following mowing or grazing is rapid on fertile sites. Forage quality is good prior to heading but then declines rapidly.
This perennial grass is 3-5' tall. The culms are light to medium green, hairless, terete (circular in cross-section), and unbranched. Several alternate leaves occur primarily along the lower one-half of the culm. The leaf blades are up to 10" long and ¾" (20 mm.) across; they are green or grayish blue, linear in shape, flat, hairless, and rough-textured along their margins. The base of each leaf blade is much wider than the culm. The leaf sheaths are the same color as the blades and hairless; their margins are narrowly membranous, often becoming separated toward their apices. The ligules are white-membranous, while the nodes are green to yellowish green, glabrous, and slightly swollen. The culm terminates in a slender panicle of spikelets up to 10" long and 2-3" across. The lateral branches of this panicle are erect to ascending. The spikelets are initially light green, but they later become golden tan and finally light tan. Each spikelet has a pair of glumes at its base; these glumes are keeled, lanceolate, hairless, and up to ¼" (6.5 mm.) in length. There are 2 sterile lemmas that are quite small and inconspicuous, while the fertile lemma is lanceolate, finely pubescent along its lower margins, and up to 4.5 mm. in length. This lemma encloses a membranous palea containing the grain. The blooming period occurs from early to mid-summer, lasting about 1-2 weeks. The perfect florets of the fertile lemmas are cross-pollinated by the wind. At maturity, the spikelets disarticulate above the glumes; there is one grain per spikelet. The grains are 3-4 mm. in length, narrowly ellipsoid-lanceoloid in shape, and light-colored. The root system produces extensive rhizomes. This grass forms clonal colonies that often exclude other species of plants. Phalaris arundinacea var. picta is known as an ornamental grass often used as a tall groundcover, in full sun to partial shade. Ribbon Grass has striped variegated foliage that forms a solid dense mat.
Phalaris arundinacea var. picta L., also referred to as P. arundinacea f. variegata (Parnell) Druce, is a common garden ornamental. This variety has white striped leaves and can occur in native populations. Its pollen is reportedly 30-40% imperfect and the seeds do not mature (Bugwood).