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knot-root bristlegrass, knotroot foxtail, marsh bristle grass, yellow bristlegrass

Habit Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes short, knotty.
Culms

30-120 cm;

nodes glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous;

ligules shorter than 1 mm, of hairs;

blades to 25 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, flat, scabrous above.

Panicles

3-8 (10) cm, of uniform width throughout their length, densely spikelike;

rachises scabro-hispid;

bristles 4-12, 2-12 mm, antrorsely barbed, yellow to purple.

Spikelets

2-2.8 mm, elliptical and turgid.

Lower

glumes about 1/3 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined;

upper glumes 1/2 - 2/3 as long as the spikelets, 5-veined;

lower florets often staminate;

lower lemmas occasionally indurate and faintly transversely rugose;

lower paleas equaling the lower lemmas;

upper lemmas distinctly transversely rugose, often purple-tipped.

2n

= 36, 72.

Setaria parviflora

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WV; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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Discussion

Setaria parviflora is a common, native species of moist ground. It is most frequent along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but it also grows from the Central Valley of California east through the central United States and southward through Mexico to Central America, as well as in the West Indies. The plant from Oregon was found on a ballast dump; the species is not established in that state.

Setaria parviflora is the most morphologically diverse and widely distributed of the indigenous perennial species of Setaria.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 556.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Setaria > subg. Setaria
Sibling taxa
S. adhaerans, S. arizonica, S. barbata, S. chapmanii, S. corrugata, S. faberi, S. grisebachii, S. italica, S. leucopila, S. liebmannii, S. macrosperma, S. macrostachya, S. magna, S. megaphylla, S. palmifolia, S. pumila, S. rariflora, S. reverchonii, S. scheelei, S. setosa, S. sphacelata, S. texana, S. verticillata, S. verticilliformis, S. villosissima, S. viridis
Synonyms S. imberbis, S. gracilis, S. geniculata
Name authority (Poir.) Kerguelen
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