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Published In: Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie 51, 178, pl. 13, f. 3. 1812. (Ess. Agrostogr.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/27/2009)
Acceptance : Accepted
 

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70. Setaria P. Beauv. (foxtail grass)

(Rominger, 1962)

Plants with C4 photosynthesis, annual or perennial, usually forming tufts. Flowering stems erect or ascending, often spreading at the base, glabrous or less commonly hairy at the nodes. Leaf sheaths glabrous or hairy, the ligule a short membrane with a fringe of hairs along the margin. Leaf blades flat or sometimes loosely twisted, glabrous or roughened and/or hairy. Inflorescences dense, narrow panicles with very short branches of few to many spikelets, these usually reduced to clusters of spikelets and the inflorescences then appearing as cylindrical spikes. Spikelets elliptic to ovate‑elliptic in outline, each subtended by 1–20 roughened bristles, without a cuplike ring or knoblike disk at the base, shed individually, leaving the persistent bristles, disarticulating below the glumes (above the glumes in S. italica). Lower glume triangular to ovate, bluntly to sharply pointed at the tip, awnless, 3‑ or 5‑nerved. Upper glume not inflated or saclike at the base, elliptic‑ovate, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, awnless, 3–9‑nerved, glabrous. Lowermost floret sterile or staminate, the palea usually well developed and conspicuous (sometimes reduced and inconspicuous in S. viridis), the lemma about as long as the rest of the spikelet, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, awnless, 3–9‑nerved, glabrous. Fertile (perfect) floret with the lemma about as long as the rest of the spikelet, elliptic‑ovate, rounded or bluntly pointed at the tip, awnless, nerveless, with noticeable, fine cross‑wrinkles on the surface (except in S. italica), glabrous, mostly dull, light green to pale yellow, thickened and hard (usually somewhat bonelike) at maturity, the margins also thick, wrapped around the palea and fruit, including the tip (after flowering). Paleas with noticeable, fine cross‑wrinkles on the surface (except in S. italica), glabrous, dull, thickened and hard (usually somewhat bonelike) at maturity. Fruits oblong‑elliptic in outline. About 125 species, nearly worldwide, mostly in tropical and warm‑temperate regions.

 

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1 Spikelets subtended by 4–20 bristles; leaf sheaths glabrous along the margins and on the surface (2)
+ Spikelets subtended by 1–3(–6) bristles; leaf sheaths hairy along the margins, glabrous or hairy on the surface (3)
2 (1) Plants annual, with soft bases, without rhizomes; spikelets 2.8–3.5 mm long 2 Setaria glauca
+ Plants perennial, with hardened bases and short rhizomes; spikelets 1.9–2.9 mm long 4 Setaria parviflora
3 (1) Spikelets disarticulating below the fertile floret, leaving the persistent glumes, sterile floret, and bristles attached to the main axis, the fertile lemma smooth on the surface 3 Setaria italica
+ Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, leaving only the bristles attached to the main axis, the fertile lemma with noticeable, fine cross-wrinkles on the surface (4)
4 (3) Leaf blades with the upper surface roughened and also sparsely to more commonly densely pubescent with long, pustular-based hairs; inflorescences frequently nodding or drooping from near the base 1 Setaria faberi
+ Leaf blades with the upper surface roughened but not pubescent with longer hairs (note that there may be longer hairs along the margins); inflorescences erect or nodding toward the tip (5)
5 (4) Inflorescences with the main axis roughened with short, stiff hairs, the branches in definite whorls 5 Setaria verticillata
+ Inflorescences with the main axis with short, soft, upwardly pointing hairs and often also with longer, soft, ascending to spreading hairs, the branches not in definite whorls 6 Setaria viridis
 
 
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