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Info
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Setaria = "bearing bristles" [Latin] refering to the bristles of the inflorescence
Species etymology: italica = From Italy
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - intentional
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1997
Map
Inflorescence
image credit: Sam_Kieschnick
image credit: Karen_FryPlant
image credit: Sam_KieschnickDescription
Plants annual. Culms 10–100 cm. Sheaths mostly glabrous, margins sparsely ciliate; ligules 1–2 mm; blades to 20 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, flat, scabrous. Panicles 8–30 cm, dense, spike-like, occasionally lobed below; rachises hispid to villous; bristles 1–3, to 12 mm, tawny or purple. Spikelets about 3 mm, disarticulating between the lower and upper florets. Lower glumes 3-veined; upper glumes 5–7-veined; lower paleas absent or ½ as long as the lower lemmas; upper lemmas very finely and transversely rugose to smooth and shiny, exposed at maturity. 2n = 18.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp http://floranorthamerica.org/Setaria_italica )