Annual or short-lived perennial (some accounts clearly state one, the other or both) with basal buds (branching at base) laxly tufted often straggling with a short knotty rhizome as long as 4 cm. Culms erect or geniculate, 10-30-(75) cm, ± erect, nodes compressed, often dark brown, internodes ridged, glabrous, minutely prickle-toothed to pubescent on ridges just below panicle. Leaf sheaths keeled, glabrous (sometimes scabrous toward the summit);leaf blades stiff, flat or involute, (3)-8-15-(20) cm × 2-5 mm, glabrous or adaxial surface pilose at base, apex acuminate;ligule ca. 1 mm. Panicle densely cylindrical, 2–15 × 0.5–1.2 cm;branches reduced to a single mature spikelet subtended by 8–12 bristles;axis pubescent;bristles golden (yellow) or purplish brown when mature, 2–3 times spikelet length. Spikelets elliptic, 1.8–2.5 mm, light green, falling entire at maturity. lower glume ovate, approximately 1/3 as long as spikelet (0.7-1.2mm), 3 nerved acute or apiculate;upper glume broadly ovate, ca. 1/2 as long as spikelet 1-2 mm,3-(5) nerved, obtuse;lower floret neuter;lower palea firmly membranous, lanceolate, about as long as the upper floret but narrower, keels wingless, minutely papillose;upper lemma ovate-elliptic, finely rugulose, pale cream. Flowering and fruiting early autumn to early winter. This description combines sources (Hitchcock, 1931, 1971;Shouliang and Phillips, 2006;Edgar and Connor, 2010).
Seed detection is described in Seed Regulatory and Testing Branch (2011). Field detection may be poor due to its similarity to other congeners (Dekker, 2003).
Related invasive species
- Setaria parviflora
Related Farm Practice
- Light
S. parviflora is a variable, self-compatible, rhizomatous, C4 plant with a short lived seed bank, commonly regarded as an agricultural weed both in its native and introduced range (Rabinowitz and Rapp, 1981;Pensiero, 1999;Mollard et al., 2007;Mollard and Insausti, 2011;Randall, 2012). It often colonizes cultivated and disturbed soils or waste places including seasonally wet sites and salt marshes (Hubbard, 1954;Leithead et al., 1971;Pott and Pott, 2004;Edgar and Connor, 2010). It can contaminate wool (Ryves et al., 1996), seed crops, especially those of grasses such as dryland rice, lawn seed and Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) (Silveira Filho and Aquino, 1983;Wehtje et al., 2008;Seed Regulatory and Testing Branch, 2011) and degrade and dominate sod and pastures (including alfalfa), lowering hay quality, a problem because it can cause lesions in livestock (Murphy et al., 1992;Arregui et al., 2001;Muller and Via, 2012). Land infested with it might be considered to have lower value because of poor pasture. It is regarded as a member of the alien flora of Chile (Ugarte et al., 2011).
Not usually a serious weed, except where it is a contaminant of seed crops (especially rice, lawn and forage grasses) and hay. Often management strategies focus on limiting seeding.