''Setaria viridis'' is a species of
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...
known by many
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...
s, including green foxtail,
[ green bristlegrass,][ and wild foxtail millet.][ It is sometimes considered a subspecies of '']Setaria italica
Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest eviden ...
''.introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived the ...
and is closely related to ''Setaria faberi
''Setaria faberi'', the Japanese bristlegrass, nodding bristle-grass, Chinese foxtail, Chinese millet, giant bristlegrass, giant foxtail or nodding foxtail, is an Asian grass. It is a summer annual, with plants emerging from seeds in the sprin ...
'', a noxious weed
A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...
. It is a hardy grass which grows in many types of urban, cultivated, and disturbed habitat, including vacant lots, sidewalks, railroads, lawns, and at the margins of fields. It is the wild
Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to:
Common meanings
* Wild animal
* Wilderness, a wild natural environment
* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed
Art, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 ...
antecedent
An antecedent is a preceding event, condition, cause, phrase, or word.
The etymology is from the Latin noun ''antecedentem'' meaning "something preceding", which comes from the preposition ''ante'' ("before") and the verb ''cedere'' ("to go").
...
of the crop foxtail millet
Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest eviden ...
.
This is an annual grass with decumbent or erect stems growing up to a meter long, and known to reach two meters or more at times. The leaf blades are up to 40 centimeters long and 2.5 wide and glabrous. The inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...
is a dense, compact, spikelike panicle
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is ...
up to 20 centimeters long, growing erect or sometimes nodding at the tip only. Spikelets are 1.8–2.2 mm long. Each is subtended by up to three stiff bristles. Its fertile lemmas are finely cross-wrinkled.
''Setaria viridis'' is often confused with ''S. faberi,'' (Chinese or Giant Foxtail), which has sparse, soft hairs on the leaves and a nodding inflorescence. ''Setaria viridis'' is closely related to ''S. italica'' (Foxtail Millet), which has larger spikelets about 3 mm long and usually smooth, shiny upper lemmas. Foxtail Millet was cultivated in China by 2700 BC and during the Stone Age in Europe.
''Setaria viridis'' has been proposed as a model to study C4 photosynthesis
carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960's discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack that some plants, when supp ...
and related bioenergy grasses.seed dormancy
Seed dormancy is an evolutionary adaptation that prevents seeds from germinating during unsuitable ecological conditions that would typically lead to a low probability of seedling survival. Dormant seeds do not germinate in a specified period of ...
has been discovered recently and all these could contribute towards making ''S. viridis'' a choice monocot
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute on ...
genetic model system.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileGrass Manual TreatmentWashington Burke MuseumPhoto gallery
viridis
Grasses of Asia
Grasses of Europe
Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois
{{Panicoideae-stub