Setaria parviflora
Setaria villosissima
knot-root bristlegrass, knotroot foxtail, marsh bristle grass, yellow bristlegrass
hairyleaf bristlegrass
30-120 cm;
nodes glabrous.
40-100 cm.
glabrous;
ligules shorter than 1 mm, of hairs;
blades to 25 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, flat, scabrous above.
villous distally, margins ciliate;
ligules about 1 mm, densely ciliate, hairs white;
blades 15-30 cm long, 5-8 mm wide, both surfaces villous.
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.
10-20 cm, loosely spicate;
bristles usually solitary, 10-20 mm.
2-2.8 mm, elliptical and turgid.
2.8-3 mm.
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.
about 1/3 as long as the spikelets, broadly ovate, 3-veined;
upper glumes nearly equaling the spikelets, 5-7-veined;
lower lemmas equaling the upper lemmas, 5-veined;
lower paleas about 1/5 as long as the upper paleas, lanceolate;
upper lemmas finely and transversely undulate-rugose basally, striate and punctate distally;
upper paleas similar, ovate-lanceolate.
= 36, 72.
= 54.
Setaria parviflora
Setaria villosissima
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.)
Setaria villosissima is a rare species that grows on granitic soils in southwestern Texas and northern Mexico. The villous sheaths and blades and large spikelets of S. villosissima aid in its identification. A.S. Hitchcock's (1951) report of Setaria villosissima from Arizona is based on misidentification of a specimen of S. leucophila (Reeder 1994).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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