Setaria pumila

Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 [bis.]. 2: 891. 1817; Clayton in Tutin et al., Fl. Europaea 5: 263. 1980; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 702. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 691. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 820. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 22: 534; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 181; Sharma & Khosla, Grasses Punj. and Chandigarh 166. 1989 [as Setaria glauca (L.) P. Beauv.]; Panicum pumilum Poir., Encycl. Suppl. 4: 273. 1816; Setaria pallide-fusca (Schum.) Stapf & Hubb., Kew Bulletin 1930: 259. 1930; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceyl. Ind. Pak. 363. 1960; Panicum pallide-fuscum Schum., Beskr. Guin Pl. 58. 1827; Setaria glauca auct. non (L.) P. Beauv., Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 7: 78. 1897; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 587. 1921(Reprint 1980); Maheshwari, Illustr. Fl. Delhi f. 241.1966.

Annuals. Culms 20-90 cm high, erect or decumbent-ascending, tufted, rough below the inflorescence. Nodes glabrous. Leaf blades linear, flat up to 4-15 cm x 0.6-0.8 cm, acuminate, glabrous except few white long hairs towards the base; leaf sheaths compressed and keeled below, glabrous; ligule membranous, truncate, ciliate. Panicle 3-8 cm x 0.4-0.6 cm, densely cylindrical, erect, branches reduced to sessile or subsessile involucres each supporting a solitary perfect spikelet, frequently with a reduced one subtended by 6-12 rigid, scaberulous, brownish gold or purplish bristles, bristles 2-3 times longer than spikelets, up to 1 cm long. Rachis tomentulous. Spikelets 2-flowered, ovate to elliptic, 3-3.5 mm long, glabrous. Glumes unequal; lower glume broadly ovate, acute, membranous, 3-nerved, base clasping, 1/3 the size of the spikelet, 0.9-1.1 mm long; upper glume similar, half the size of spikelet, ca. 1.5 mm long, 5-nerved. Lower floret: Male or barren. Its lemma (lower lemma) membranous, 5-nerved, flat, paleate. Its palea (lower palea) almost as long as lemma. Upper floret: Bisexual, of full length of spikelet. Its lemma (upper lemma) broadly ovate, boat-shaped, acute, crustaceous, transversely rugose. Its palea (upper palea) similar to lemma in size, coriaceous, finely rugose, 2-keeled. Stamens 3; anthers ca. 1 mm long. Stigmas 2, plumose. Caryopsis rotundate-elliptic.

Flowering and Fruiting: August to November
Common Names: Cat’s tail Grass, Cat-Tail Millet, Horse Grass, Pigeon Grass, Queens land Pigeon Grass, Yellow Foxtail; Bandra, Bandri, Ban Kauni, Siun, Ankutt (Hindi)