Setaria adhaerans
Setaria italica
bur bristlegrass, tropical barbed bristlegrass
foxtail bristlegrass, foxtail millet, Italian bristle grass, Italian foxtail, millet des oiseaux, millet foxtail, setaire d'italie, setaire italienne
25-60 cm.
10-100 cm.
glabrous throughout;
ligules 1-2 mm, of hairs, white;
blades usually less than 10 cm long, 5-10 mm wide, flat, broad basally, abaxial surfaces conspicuously strigose with papillose-based hairs, tapering abruptly at the apices;
bristles solitary, about 5 mm, retrorsely scabrous.
mostly glabrous, margins sparsely ciliate;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades to 20 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, flat, scabrous.
2-6 cm, verticillate, green to purple;
rachises retrorsely rough hispid.
8-30 cm, dense, spikelike, occasionally lobed below;
rachises hispid to villous;
bristles 1-3, to 12 mm, tawny or purple.
1.5-2.2 mm.
about 3 mm, disarticulating between the lower and upper florets.
about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, obtuse, 1(3)-veined;
upper glumes nearly as long as the spikelets, 5-7-veined;
lower lemmas equaling to slightly exceeding the upper lemmas;
lower paleas less than 1/2 as long as the spikelets, scalelike;
upper lemmas finely and transversely rugose;
upper paleas similar to the upper lemmas.
3-veined;
upper glumes 5-7-veined;
lower paleas absent or 1/2 as long as the lower lemmas;
upper lemmas very finely and transversely rugose to smooth and shiny, exposed at maturity.
= 18.
= 18.
Setaria adhaerans
Setaria italica
Setaria adhaerans grows in subtropical regions throughout the world. In North America, it is known from the southern United States, northeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, and the Bahamas. The Californian record may represent a recent introduction.
Setaria adhaerans resembles the temperate S. verticillata, but differs in having shorter panicles, shorter spikelets, glabrous sheath margins, and papillose-based strigose hairs on the blades.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Setaria italica was cultivated in China as early as 2700 B.C. and during the Stone Age in Europe. Nowadays it is grown mostly for hay or as a pasture grass, but it has been used as a substitute for rice in northern China. It is sometimes cultivated in North America, but it is better known as a weed in moist ditches, mostly in the northeastern United States. It is closely related to S. viridis, differing in the longer (3 mm) spikelets and smooth, shiny upper florets which readily disarticulate above the lower florets. It exhibits considerable variation in seed and bristle color, bristle length, and panicle shape. Using these characters, Hubbard (1915) recognized several infraspecific taxa; they are not treated here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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