Open Herbarium - Setaria parviflora

Setaria parviflora (Poir.) Kerguélen
Family: Poaceae Knotroot Bristlegrass, more...Mission Grass [Pennisetum polystachion (L.) Schult., more] Linda Ann Vorobik, Illustrator	Flora of North America Flora of North America Resources J.K Wipff Plants annual or perennial; cespitose from a hard, knotty base. Culms 30-200 cm, erect, branching; nodes glabrous. Sheathsglabrous, margins ciliate; ligules 1.5-2.7 mm; blades 15-55 cm long, 4-18 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent. Panicles terminal, 10-25 cm long, 15-30 mm wide, fully exerted from the sheaths, erect to drooping, white, yellow, light brown, or pink to deep purple; rachises terete, scabrous. Fascicles 33-45 per cm, disarticulating at maturity; fascicles axes 0.2-0.5 mm, with 1 spikelet; outer bristles 13-30, 1.3-5 mm, scabrous; inner bristles 6-14, 4.3-11.5 mm, long ciliate; primary bristles 14-25 mm, long-ciliate, noticeably longer than the other bristles. Spikelets 3-4.5 mm, sessile; lower glumes absent or to 2 mm, veinless; upper glumes 3-4.5 mm, glabrous, 5-7-veined, 3-lobed; lower florets sterile or staminate; lower lemmas 3-3.9 mm, 5-7-veined, apices lobed; lower paleas 2.9-3.7 mm; anthers absent or 1.7-2 mm; upper florets disarticulating at maturity; upper lemmas 1.7-3 mm, coriaceous, shiny, 5-veined, apices ciliate; anthers 1.3-2.1 mm. Caryopses about 1.7 mm, concealed by the lemma and palea at maturity. 2n = 18, 36, 45, 48, 52, 53, 54, 56, 78. Pennisetum polystachion is a polymorphic, weedy African species that has become established in the tropics and subtropics, including Florida. The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers it a noxious weed. Only Pennisetum polystachion subsp. setosum(Sw.) Brunken has been found in the Flora region. It differs from P. polystachion (L.) Schult. subsp. polystachion as indicated in the key below. James M. Rominger Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes short, knotty. Culms 30-120 cm; nodes glabrous. Sheaths glabrous; ligules shorter than 1 mm, of hairs; blades to 25 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, flat, scabrous above. Panicles 3-8(10) cm, of uniform width throughout their length, densely spikelike; rachises scabro-hispid; bristles 4-12, 2-12 mm, antrorsely barbed, yellow to purple. Spikelets 2-2.8 mm, elliptical and turgid. Lower glumes about 1/3 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined; upper glumes 1/2-2/3 as long as the spikelets, 5-veined; lower florets often staminate; lower lemmas occasionally indurate and faintly transversely rugose; lower paleas equaling the lower lemmas; upper lemmas distinctly transversely rugose, often purple-tipped. 2n = 36, 72. Setaria parviflora is a common, native species of moist ground. It is most frequent along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but it also grows from the Central Valley of California east through the central United States and southward through Mexico to Central America, as well as in the West Indies. The plant from Oregon was found on a ballast dump; the species is not established in that state. Setaria parviflora is the most morphologically diverse and widely distributed of the indigenous perennial species of Setaria.
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