Japanese Bristlegrass

(Setaria faberi)

galery

Description

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 spring, and setting seeds in the late summer or fall. Giant foxtails prefer compacted soils, high in nitrogen and phosphorus. The plant gains a competitive edge on crops as the soil pH increases. Giant foxtail has been introduced to North America, where it is a widespread weed. It is a significant pest of maize/corn, reducing crop yields by 13–14% at average plant distributions. Mechanical control of giant foxtails by night tillage, rotary hoeing, or flaming is very difficult. Crop rotation with two years of alfalfa effectively reduces giant foxtail populations. Herbicides can effectively control the plant when it is growing amongst broadleaf crops, but are less effective when it is infesting maize/corn because they are both Poaceae. 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.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order:Poales
Family:Poaceae
Genus:Setaria
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