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Setaria sphacelata

(African Bristlegrass)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

African Bristlegrass, African Bristle Grass

Common Names in French:

Sétaire D´afrique

Common Names in Japanese:

Afurika Kin Enokoro

Common Names in Nepalese:

Kanike Kaguno

Description

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Genus Setaria

Annuals or perennials . Culms usually tufted , slender to robust or canelike. Leaf blades linear to lanceolate, sometimes plicate or narrowed to a false petiole ; ligule ciliate from a membranous base . Inflorescence a panicle, dense and spikelike or open with the spikelets contracted around the primary branches; spikelets (or some of them) subtended by one to several bristles which persist on the branches after the spikelets fall . Spikelets elliptic , plano-convex , sometimes gibbous , awnless, florets 2; glumes and lower lemma membranous to herbaceous; lower glume ovate from a clasping base, usually less than 1/2 spikelet length, 3-5-veined; upper glume half as long to equaling spikelet, several-veined; lower floret staminate or neuter , sometimes sulcate , its palea present, reduced or absent; upper lemma crustaceous, strongly convex , rugose , punctate or smooth , margins inrolled . x = 9.

About 130 species: tropics and subtropics, extending to warm-temperate regions of the world; 14 species (three endemic, one introduced ) in China.

The bristles in the inflorescence represent modified branchlets . The genus includes pasture grasses, a cereal crop , and a few noxious weeds .[1]

Physical Description

Habit: Graminoid

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[2]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Setaria

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 47 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

S. adhaerens (Burr Bristlegrass) · S. arizonica (Arizona Bristlegrass) · S. barbata (East Indian Bristlegrass) · S. corrugata (Coastal Bristlegrass) · S. faberi (Chinese Foxtail) · S. faberii (Faber´s Bristlegrass) · S. firmula (Knot Grass) · S. glauca sensu (Yellow Bristlegrass) · S. grisebachii (Grisebach Bristlegrass) · S. italica (Foxtail Bristlegrass) · S. italica var. italica (Foxtail Bristlegrass) · S. italica var. maxima (Tall Foxtail Millet) · S. italica viridis (Green Bristle Grass) · S. italica 'Highlander' (Foxtail Millet) · S. italica 'Lime Light Spray' (Foxtail Millet) · S. leucopila (Bristlegrass) · S. liebmannii (Liebmann Bristlegrass) · S. macrosperma (Coral Bristlegrass) · S. magna (Giant Bristlegrass) · S. megaphylla (Bigleaf Bristlegrass) · S. nigrirostris (Black Bristlegrass) · S. palmifolia (Broadleaved Bristlegrass) · S. palmifolia 'Variegata' (Malaysian Palm Grass) · S. parviflora (Knotroot Bristlegrass) · S. plicata (Wrinkle-Leaved Bristlegrass) · S. pradana (Roadside Bristlegrass) · S. pumila (Cattail Grass) · S. pumila pallidifusca (Yellow Bristlegrass) · S. ramiseta (Bristle Panicum) · S. rariflora (Brazilian Bristlegrass) · S. reverchonii (Reverchon Bristlegrass) · S. scheelei (Southwestern Bristlegrass) · S. setosa (West Indian Bristlegrass) · S. setosa var. leiophylla (West Indian Bristlegrass) · S. setosa var. setosa (West Indian Bristlegrass) · S. sphacelata (African Bristlegrass) · S. tenacissima (Tropical Bristlegrass) · S. texana (Texas Bristlegrass) · S. utowanaea (Caribbean Bristlegrass) · S. verticillata (Bristly Foxtail) · S. verticillata var. verticillata (Bristly Foxtail) · S. verticilliformis (Barbed Bristlegrass) · S. villosissima (Hairy Bristlegrass) · S. viridis (Bottle Grass) · S. viridis var. major (Bottle Grass) · S. viridis var. viridis (Green Bristlegrass) · S. vulpiseta (Plains Bristlegrass)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips "Setaria". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 1, 499, 531, 537, 549. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = 663.950 meters (2,178.314 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,070.020 based on 185 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012