On 13/07/2019 13:20, Nick Maclaren wrote:
I came across a field planted with what looks like a giant canary
grass. Think of a much less robust wheat 60 cm high, but with
ovate (pine-cone shaped, with a rounded base) panicles 25mm long
and 10mm wide. Millet seems unlikely, as that shape is rare among
millets and millets are not normally a UK crop, and the native canary
grass has much smaller panicles. It was almost certainly planted for
seed production, but might just have been planted under contract to
the RSPB for winter bird visitors.

Any ideas of what it is?

The only native canary grass (Phalaris canariensis is not native) is
Phalaris arundinacea, which doesn't have spike-like panicles, and whose
panicles are fairly chunky. I'm guessing that you mean to compare the
observed plant with Phalaris canariensis, which I see now and again as a
bird seed alien (and might be overrecording for other species).

There are several species with panicles similar to Phalaris canariensis
- aquatica, brachystachys, minor and paradoxa. Your description lies
within the range of Phalaris canariensis - Sell & Murrell say 1.5-5 x
1.2-2.2 cm - but even falls within the upper limits of Phalaris minor.
Sell & Murrell say that Phalaris aquatica and Phalaris canariensis are
grown on field scale, and Phalaris paradoxa as part of game seed mixes.

Phalaris aquatica has narrower panicles, so it's probably not that. I
suspect, pending further data, that it is Phalaris canariensis.

--
SRH