Setaria setosa
Setaria italica
West Indian bristlegrass, West Indies bristlegrass
foxtail bristlegrass, foxtail millet, Italian bristle grass, Italian foxtail, millet des oiseaux, millet foxtail, setaire d'italie, setaire italienne
50-100 cm;
nodes usually glabrous.
10-100 cm.
glabrous or finely pubescent, margins ciliate distally;
ligules of 1 mm hairs;
blades 15-20 cm long, 6-12 mm wide, flat or folded, often finely pubescent on both surfaces.
mostly glabrous, margins sparsely ciliate;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades to 20 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, flat, scabrous.
15-20 cm, loosely spikelike, interrupted, attenuate;
rachises often villous;
branches ascending, lower branches about 2.5 cm;
bristles usually solitary, less than 10 mm, antrorsely scabrous.
8-30 cm, dense, spikelike, occasionally lobed below;
rachises hispid to villous;
bristles 1-3, to 12 mm, tawny or purple.
2-2.5 mm, ovate-lanceolate.
about 3 mm, disarticulating between the lower and upper florets.
about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined;
upper glumes about 2/3 as long as the spikelets, 5-7-veined;
lower lemmas equaling the upper lemmas;
lower paleas as long as the upper paleas, broad;
upper lemmas finely and distinctly transversely rugose.
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.
= unknown.
= 18.
Setaria setosa
Setaria italica
Setaria setosa is native to the West Indies and Mexico. It is probably a recent introduction to Florida, but appears to be established there. The specimen from New Jersey was from a ballast dump; the species is not established in that state.
(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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