SETARIA

Setaria P. Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 51. 1812; Boiss., Fl. Or. 5: 442. 1884; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 77. 1897; Blatter & McCann, Bombay Grasses 171. 1935; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 586. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 358. 1960; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 166. 1989; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 531; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 177; Paspalidium Stapf in Prain, Fl. Trop. Afr. 9: 582. 1920; Blatter & McCann, Bombay Grasses 140. 1935; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 332. 1960; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 150. 1989; Chen & Phillips, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 537; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 188.

Annuals or perennials. Culms usually tufted, slender to robust. Leaf blades narrow, linear to lanceolate, sometimes plicate; ligule ciliate from membranous base. Inflorescence a panicle, dense and spike-like (spiciform) or open with spikelets contracted around primary branches. Spikelets subtended but 1-many persistent scabrid or barbed involucral bristles which persist on the axis after the spikelets fall. Spikelets elliptic, plano-convex, sometimes gibbous, awnless. Glumes unequal; the lower smaller, ovate from a clasping base, usually less than 1/2 spikelet length, 3-5-nerved; upper glume as long as the spikelet, 5-nerved. Glumes and lower lemma membranous to herbaceous. Spikelets 2-flowered. Lower floret: Male or neuter, sometimes reduced to a lemma, its lemma membranous, 5-7-nerved, as long as the upper glume, its palea present, reduced or absent. Upper floret: Bisexual, its lemma convex on back, more or less apiculate, crustaceous, finely pitted or transversely rugose, clasping only the margins of palea. Palea similar in texture and as long as the lemma. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Styles 2, long, free to base. Caryopsis oblong or ellipsoid, free, enclosed within hardened upper lemma and palea.

136 species

Setaria flavida

Setaria flavida (Retz.) Veldkamp, Blumea 39: 376. 1994; Paspalidium flavidum (Retz.) A. Camus in H. Lecomte, Fl. Gen. de I’ Indo-Chine 7: 419. 1922; Blatter & McCann, Bombay Grasses 141. 1935; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 333. 1960; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 150. 1989; Maheshwari, Illustr. Fl. Delhi f. 264. 1966; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 681. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 803. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 537; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 190; Panicum flavidum Retz. Obs. Bot. 4: 15. 1786; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 28. 1897; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 581. 1921 (Reprint 1980).

Annual or perennial. Culms up to 90 cm long, erect or ascending from a short decumbent base. Nodes glabrous. Leaf blades linear or linear-lanceolate, 8-25 cm x 0.4-1 cm, flat or inrolled, acuminate; leaf sheaths compressed, longer than internodes, hairy on throat; ligule a ciliate rim. Racemes 5-8, erect, 1.2-2.2 cm long, arranged alternately on triquetrous common axis; rachis flattened, narrowly winged, glabrous or minutely ciliate. Spikelets closely imbricate, 2-seriate, ovate-oblong, gibbous, acute, 2.5-3 mm long, 2-flowered. Glumes unequal, membranous; lower glume abaxial, much shorter than the spikelet, 0.7-0.8 mm long, suborbicular, truncate, 5-nerved; upper glume 1.5-2 mm long, rounded-ovate, 5-7-nerved, apex shortly acuminate. Lower floret: Barren. Lemma (lower lemma) 2.5-3 mm long, ovate, acuminate, 5-nerved, subcoriaceous. Palea (lower palea) ovate-elliptic, slightly smaller than lower lemma, hyaline, 2-keeled. Upper floret: Bisexual. Lemma (upper lemma) strongly convex, 2-2.5 mm long, broadly ovate-elliptic, acute, mucronate, obscurely 5-nerved, crustaceous, granulose, 2-keeled, clasping only at edges of upper palea. Palea (upper palea) similar to upper lemma in shape and texture, but slightly smaller. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 0.9 mm long. Stigmas 2. Caryopsis elliptic.

Flowering and Fruiting: August to January
Common Names: Yellow Watercrown Grass