GrassWildAnnual

Setaria flavida (Retz)Veldkamp

Yellow watercrown grass

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Description

Setaria flavida is an annual or short-lived perennial tufted grass, usually 30–100 cm tall, with erect culms arising from a fibrous root system. Stems are slender, smooth, and often branched from the base. Leaves are linear, flat, and soft, usually 10–40 cm long and 5–15 mm wide. Leaf blades are green, rough near the margins, and have hairy ligules. The inflorescence is a dense cylindrical spike-like panicle, usually 5–15 cm long, resembling a fox tail. Spikelets are surrounded by numerous bristles, a diagnostic feature of the genus Setaria. The bristles are often yellowish-green, giving the species its common name. The fruit is a small caryopsis enclosed within hardened floral structures.

Diagnostic Characters

Vegetative

Tufted annual grass. Long flat leaves. Hairy ligules.

Floral

Foxtail-like inflorescence. Bristled spikelets. Yellowish bristles.

Distribution

Native range: Native to South Asia.

In Pakistan: Found in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Tropical Asia.

Phenology

Flowering

Fruiting

Flowering: Summer–autumn Fruiting: Autumn

Ethnobotany & Uses

Fodder Importance

Used as Seasonal livestock forage.

Ecological Importance

Provides Food for birds, Habitat for insects.

Agricultural Importance

May become a weed in Crop fields.

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Where it grows on campus

This species is on the campus floristic list but was not pinned during the GPS mapping survey, so it has no map records yet.

Taxonomic Notes

Setaria belongs to tribe Paniceae.