Setaria viridis (L.) P.Beauv.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Poaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Setaria viridis (L.) P.Beauv.

  • Description

    Species Description - Annual 2–25 dm; sheaths ciliate along the upper margins; blades flat, up to 40 × 2.5 cm, scabrous above, glabrous or scaberulous beneath; infl erect or slightly nodding near the tip, cylindric, the axis hispid and densely villous, the branches not verticillate; spikelets 1.6–2.5 mm; first glume a third the length of the spikelet, 3-veined, the second nearly equaling the spikelet, 5–6-veined; sterile lemma slightly surpassing the fertile one, with a narrow, hyaline palea a third as long; fertile lemma very pale green and transversely very finely rugulose; 2n=36. A cosmop. weed, mostly of temp. regions, found in fields, gardens, and waste places throughout our range. Most of our plants belong to var. viridis, 2–10 dm, with lvs up to 20 cm × 12 mm, the infl 3–10(–15) cm, not lobed. The less common var. major (Gaudin) Peterm. is vegetatively larger, 15–25 dm, with lvs to 40 × 2.5 cm, the infl to 20 cm and somewhat lobulate. It may reflect introgression from no. 6 [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.].

  • Common Names

    green foxtail