Bristlegrass

Description

Setaria parviflora is a species of grass known by the common names marsh bristlegrass, knotroot bristle-grass,bristly foxtail and yellow bristlegrass. It is native to North America, including Mexico and the United States from California to the East Coast, Central America and the West Indies, and South America. This grass is a perennial with small, knotty rhizomes. It stems 30 centimeters to well over one meter tall. The leaf blades are up to 25 centimeters long and under a centimeter wide The leaves are whitish-green. The inflorescence is a compact, spikelike panicle up to 8 or 10 centimeters long. Surrounding each spikelet are up to 12 yellow or purple bristles The bristles stay on the stalk after the seeds drop away. This grass grows in moist habitat. It can grow in salty habitat such as salt marshes. Setaria is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word seta, meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets. The genus includes over 100 species distributed in many tropical and temperate regions around the world,and members are commonly known as foxtail or bristle grasses. Several species of Setaria have been domesticated and used as staple crops throughout history: foxtail millet (S. italica), korali (S. pumila) in India, and, before the full domestication of maize, Setaria macrostachya in Mexico.Several species are still cultivated today as food or as animal fodder, such as foxtail millet (S. italica) and korali (S. pumila), while others are considered invasive weeds. Setaria viridis is currently being developed as a genetic model system for bioenergy grasses. Other species that have been cultivated as crops include Setaria palmifolia (highland pitpit) of Papua New Guinea, where it is cultivated as a green vegetable; Setaria parviflora (knot-root foxtail), historically cultivated in Mesoamerica; and Setaria sphacelata (African bristle grass) of Sudan, a "lost millet" of Nubia.