yellow foxtail

Family

Poaceae

Scientific Name

Setaria pumila

Other Common Names:

yellow bristlegrass

pigeongrass

Synonyms (former Scientific Names):

Panicum glaucum

Setaria glauca

Chaetochloa lutescens

Chaetochloa glauca

Setaria lutescens

Habit

Plants germinate in spring and compete with crops during summer. Seed production starts in mid to late summer. Reproduces by seed. Plants grow in clumbs and lack stolons or rhizomes.

Leaves

Leaves are light green, up to 1 1/2 in wide at maturity, and have long sparse hairs on the lower 2/3. Ligule is hairy and plants lack auricles.

Identifying Characteristics

Ligule is hairy, stems and lower 2/3 of leaf are hairy. Plants lack auricles and do not have stolons or rhizomes. Plants have characteristic foxtail seed head that is long but does not nod.

Flower Seed Head

A bristly spike on the end of a long, slender, naked stem. Seedhead is typically long ( 2 in) and does not nod.

Seed Fruit

Seed are 3 to 5 mm long and covered with upper and lower sheath (palea and lemma) that have pronounced veins. Seed often have bristles that arise from the scar. These bristles may or may not be present.

Where Found

Typically found in cultivated areas following a tillage event. May occur in open areas such as the border of rock driveways or in highly disrupted turfgrass.