canary grass

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of several grasses of the genus Phalaris, especially the annual P. canariensis of the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands, widely grown for its seed, used as food for cage birds.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Phalaris Canariensis, natural order Gramineæ, a native of the Canary islands.
• noun The reed canary-grass (also called reed-grass) is widely diffused in wet places over the northern hemisphere. In the northwestern United States it is called crazy-grass, on account of its supposed effect on horses, which, however, is probably due to ergot with which it is infested. The Southern or American canary-grass, Phalaris Caroliniana, ranging through the Southern States to California, is regarded in the Eastern States as valuable for winter and spring pasture. This, or a form with an inflorescence appearing much like Phleum, is called Southern or Apache timothy. The blue or purple canary-grass is Phalaris amcthystina, a native Californian species of moderate value. P. minor and P. paradoxa are Mediterranean species introduced into California.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Phalaris canariensis, a grass whose seeds are used as birdseed

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun Canary Islands grass; seeds used as feed for caged birds