''Setaria viridis'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

known by many

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s, including green foxtail, green bristlegrass, and wild foxtail millet. It is sometimes considered a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''

Setaria italica Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidenc ...

''. It is native to Eurasia, but it is known on most continents as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

and is closely related to ''

Setaria faberi ''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, ...

'', a

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...

. It is a hardy grass which grows in many types of urban, cultivated, and disturbed habitat, including vacant lots, sidewalks, railroads, lawns, and at the margins of fields. It is the

wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

antecedent of the crop

foxtail millet Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidenc ...

. This is an annual grass with decumbent or erect stems growing up to a meter long, and known to reach two meters or more at times. The leaf blades are up to 40 centimeters long and 2.5 wide and glabrous. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a dense, compact, spikelike

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

up to 20 centimeters long, growing erect or sometimes nodding at the tip only. Spikelets are 1.8–2.2 mm long. Each is subtended by up to three stiff bristles. Its fertile lemmas are finely cross-wrinkled. ''Setaria viridis'' is often confused with ''S. faberi,'' (Chinese or Giant Foxtail), which has sparse, soft hairs on the leaves and a nodding inflorescence. ''Setaria viridis'' is closely related to ''S. italica'' (Foxtail Millet), which has larger spikelets about 3 mm long and usually smooth, shiny upper lemmas. Foxtail Millet was cultivated in China by 2700 BC and during the Stone Age in Europe. ''Setaria viridis'' has been proposed as a model to study

C4 photosynthesis carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960's discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack that some plants, when sup ...

and related bioenergy grasses. It has a short life cycle (6–8 weeks), is transformable and is currently being sequenced. Genetic resources are currently being developed by a number of groups. A method to break the prolonged

seed dormancy Seed dormancy is an evolutionary adaptation that prevents seeds from germinating during unsuitable ecological conditions that would typically lead to a low probability of seedling survival. Dormant seeds do not germinate in a specified period of ...

has been discovered recently and all these could contribute towards making ''S. viridis'' a choice

monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

genetic model system.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileGrass Manual TreatmentWashington Burke MuseumPhoto gallery
viridis Grasses of Asia Grasses of Europe Taxa named by Palisot de Beauvois {{Panicoideae-stub