Setaria palmifolia |
Setaria leucopila |
|
|---|---|---|
| palmgrass |
bristlegrass, plains bristlegrass, streambed bristlegrass, yellow bristlegrass, yellow foxtail |
|
| Habit | Plants perennial. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
| Culms | 1-2 m. |
20-100 cm. |
| Sheaths | 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. |
compressed, glabrous, margins villous distally; ligules 1-2.5 mm, ciliate; blades 8-25 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat or folded, scabrous on both surfaces. |
| Panicles | 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. |
6-15 cm, tightly spikelike, pale green; rachises scabrous or villous; bristles usually solitary, 4-15 mm, ascending. |
| Spikelets | 3-4 mm, elliptic, acuminate. |
2.2-2.8(3) mm, elliptical. |
| Lower glumes | 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. |
about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined; upper glumes from 3/4 as long as to equaling the florets, 5-veined; lower lemmas equaling the upper lemmas, 5-veined; lower paleas 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the upper paleas, lanceolate; upper lemmas apiculate, finely and transversely rugose; upper paleas similar. |
| 2n | = 54. |
= 54, 68, 72. |
Setaria palmifolia |
Setaria leucopila |
|
| Distribution |
HI |
AR; AZ; CO; FL; NM; OK; TX
|
| Discussion | 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 leucopila grows in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is the most common of the perennial "Plains bristlegrasses." (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Name authority | (J. Konig) Stapf | (Scribn. & Merr.) K. Schum. |
| Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 543. | FNA vol. 25, p. 548. |
| Web links | ||