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pigeon grass, wood groundsel, yellow bristlegrass, yellow foxtail

palmgrass

Habit Plants annual. Plants perennial.
Culms

30-130 cm.

1-2 m. 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.

Sheaths

glabrous;

ligules ciliate;

blades 4-10 mm wide, loosely twisted, adaxial surfaces with papillose-based hairs basally.

Panicles

3-15 cm, uniformly thick, erect, densely spicate;

rachises hispid;

bristles 4-12, 3-8 mm, antrorsely 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.

Spikelets

2-3.4 mm, strongly turgid.

3-4 mm, elliptic, acuminate.

Lower glumes

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

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

upper florets often staminate;

lower lemmas equaling the upper lemmas;

lower paleas equaling the lower lemmas, broad;

upper lemmas conspicuously exposed, strongly transversely rugose.

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.

2n

= 36, 72.

= 54.

Setaria pumila

Setaria palmifolia

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
HI
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Key
1. Spikelets 3-3.4 mm long; bristles yellow
subsp. pumila
1. Spikelets 2-2.5 mm long; bristles reddish subsp. pallidefusca
subsp. pallidefusca
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 558. FNA vol. 25, p. 543.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Setaria > subg. Setaria Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Setaria > subg. Ptychophyllum
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. parviflora, S. rariflora, S. reverchonii, S. scheelei, S. setosa, S. sphacelata, S. texana, S. verticillata, S. verticilliformis, S. villosissima, S. viridis
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. parviflora, S. pumila, S. rariflora, S. reverchonii, S. scheelei, S. setosa, S. sphacelata, S. texana, S. verticillata, S. verticilliformis, S. villosissima, S. viridis
Subordinate taxa
S. pumila subsp. pallidefusca, S. pumila subsp. pumila
Name authority (Poir.) Roem. & Schult. (J. Konig) Stapf
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