Setaria italica

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Setaria italica in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Setaria italica, Beauv. Common Millet of the U. S. (but not of Eu., this being Panicum miliaceum); also called German Millet and Hungarian Grass. Culm 3-5 ft. high: spike yellow or purple, compound, more or less glomerate; bristles 1-3, often shorter than the spikelet. Thought to have been derived from S. viridis. Gn. 12, p. 69.—The cult. of millet dates from prehistoric times. At present it is raised extensively in parts of Asia as a food-plant. In the U. S. millet is raised for fodder. The "Japanese millets" belong to S. italica, while the "Japanese barnyard millets" are Echinochloa Crusgalli or E. frumentacea. The forms of S. italica may be distinguished from S. viridis by the articulation of the fruit (fertile floret), or what is commercially known as the seed. In the former species the fruit at maturity disarticulates above the glumes and falls away free from them. In S. viridis the fruit falls away surrounded by the glumes. The varieties of S. italica have been classified by Hubbard (Amer. Journ. Bot. 2:187.1915) as follows: Subsp. stramineofructa, Hubb. Bristles noticeably longer than spikelets: a large plant with heads 4-12 in. long, and as much as 2 in. wide, usually strongly lobed. This is one of the forms cult. as German millet. Forma breviseta, Hubb. Bristles shorter than the spikelets or barely exceeding them. Cult. as Golden Wonder millet. Subvar. germanica, Hubb. Bristles noticeably longer than spikelets: head usually 2-3 in. long, 1/4 – 1/2 in. broad. One of the forms cult. as common millet. Var. Hostii, Hubb. Head large, lobulate, purple. Cult. as German millet. Subvar. Metzgeri, Hubb. Bristles noticeably longer than spikelets. Cult. as common millet, a common form. Sometimes called Hungarian grass, a name that should apply to var. atra (see below). Var. brunneoseta, Hubb. Head large, lobulate, brown. Aino millet, occasionally cult. Subvar. densior, Hubb. Head compact, scarcely lobulate. Another form of Aino millet. Subsp. rubrofructa, Hubb. The form cult. in U. S. is var. purpureoseta, Hubb., with lobulate head and purple bristles. Turkestan millet. Subvar. violacea, Hubb., with dense head and purple bristles. Kursk millet. Siberian millet. Subsp. nigrofructa, Hubb. The common form cult. in U. S. is var. atra with small dense heads, 1-3 in. long, with purple-brown bristles. Commonly cult. as Hungarian grass. Many other varieties are cult. in the Old World. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Do you have cultivation info on this plant? Edit this section!

Propagation

Do you have propagation info on this plant? Edit this section!

Pests and diseases

Do you have pest and disease info on this plant? Edit this section!

Gallery

If you have a photo of this plant, please upload it! Plus, there may be other photos available for you to add.

• 

  photo 1

• 

  photo 2

• 

  photo 3

References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Setaria italica. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Setaria italica QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)