Setaria palmifolia
Setaria italica
palmgrass
foxtail bristlegrass, foxtail millet, Italian bristle grass, Italian foxtail, millet des oiseaux, millet foxtail, setaire d'italie, setaire italienne
1-2 m.
10-100 cm.
strigose, margins with stiff hairs;
collars hispid;
ligules about 2 mm, of hairs;
blades to 50 cm long, 20-80 mm wide, plicate, tapering at both ends, abaxial surfaces sparsely strigose, adaxial surfaces short pubescent near the base.
mostly glabrous, margins sparsely ciliate;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades to 20 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, flat, scabrous.
to 40 cm, open;
branches 6-10 cm, loosely flexible, axes scabrous;
bristles solitary, usually present only below the terminal spikelet on each branch, occasionally below non-terminal spikelets, about 5 mm.
8-30 cm, dense, spikelike, occasionally lobed below;
rachises hispid to villous;
bristles 1-3, to 12 mm, tawny or purple.
3-4 mm, elliptic, acuminate.
about 3 mm, disarticulating between the lower and upper florets.
1/2 as long as the spikelets, obtuse, 3-4-veined;
upper glumes nearly equaling the upper lemmas, 7-veined, acute;
lower lemmas exceeding the upper lemmas, 5-veined, apices involute;
lower paleas nearly equaling the lower lemmas in length and width;
upper lemmas obscurely transversely rugose, yellow, apiculate.
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.
= 54.
= 18.
Setaria palmifolia
Setaria italica
Setaria palmifolia is primarily an Asiatic species. It is a common species in Jamaica, and has been reported from scattered locations around the southern coast of the United States. In the Flora region it is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental for the conspicuous, plicate leaves and large panicles. In Southeast Asia the grains are eaten as a substitute for rice and the tender, thickened shoots as a vegetable.
(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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BC, 
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