Flower:

A single, dense spike-like cluster at the tip of the stem, ½ to 2+ inches (1.5 to 6 cm) long, narrowly oblong to egg-shaped. Spikelets (flower clusters) are somewhat flattened, 6 to 10 mm long and have a single fertile floret flanked by a pair of sterile florets.

At the base of a spikelet is a pair of bracts (glumes), both similar, rather showy, boat-shaped, nearly semi-circular in outline, 6 to 10 mm long, thin, 3 to 5-veined, keeled, the keel broadly winged on the upper half, whitish to pale green with a broad darker green stripe on either side of the keel and thin green stripes along the lateral veins. Fertile florets are surrounded by a pair of bracts (lemma and palea), the lemma shiny, 5-veined, 4.5 to 6.8 mm long, densely hairy though may become hairless with age; the palea is slightly shorter than the lemma, 2-veined. Sterile lemmas are both thin, 1/3 to ¾ as long as the fertile lemma; sterile paleas are obscure or absent.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, up to ~10 inches (3 to 25 cm) long, 2 to 12 mm (~½ inch) wide, mostly flat, hairless. Sheaths are hairless. The ligule (membrane where the leaf joins the sheath) is 3 to 10 mm long, very thin, often folded over or shredded and lacks a fringe of hairs. The collar (outer junction between the blade and sheath) is prominent and very pale. Nodes are smooth. Stems are unbranched, hairless, erect to ascending, usually multiple from the base forming clumps.

Fruit:

The fertile florets are straw-colored to light gray-brown when mature, and drop off with the sterile florets still attached, leaving the glumes behind on the stalk.

Notes:

Common Canary Grass, native to southern Europe and the Canary Islands, has been introduced to temperate regions worldwide, but is uncommon in Minnesota with only a handful of reports in the state, most of which date back to the late 1800s. We have never come across it in the wild ourselves, but an astute observer discovered it as a volunteer in a potted plant of all places. 

While it is in the same genus as the infamous Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinaceae), it bears little resemblence to it. The showy glumes and dense spike-like cluster are pretty distinct and not likely to be mistaken for any of our native grasses.

It is a common component of certain birdseed mixes, hence one of its common names: Birdseed Grass.