Setaria italica (L.) Beauv., Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

Evaluate, score: 3 (Go to the risk assessment (Australia)).
High risk, score 9 (Go to the risk assessment (Pacific)).

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: liang

English: foxtail bristlegrass, foxtail millet, German millet, Hungarian millet, Italian millet

French: millet d'Italie, millet des oiseaux, petit mil, sétaire d'Italie

Spanish: dana, mijo de Italia, mijo menor, panizo comun

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Annual; culms usually 60-150 cm tall, sometimes less in depauperate plants, erect or somewhat geniculate at the base, the nodes and internodes usually glabrous.  Sheaths slightly keeled toward the top, glabrous, puberulent or pubescent, ciliate, the collar appressed pubescent or puberulent; ligule 1-3 mm long, the membrane 0.3-0.5 mm long, the cilia 0.7-2.5 mm long; blades to 45 cm long and 2 cm wide, glabrous, sometimes scabrous, rarely pubescent in the lower part, narrowed toward the base.  Panicles to 30 cm long and 4 cm thick, very variable, usually an erect or drooping lobed false spike; rachis densely pubescent; bristles very variable in length and number, to 15 mm long, antrorsely scabrous.  Spikelets 2.1-2.7 mm long, elliptic to obovate, glabrous; lower glume 0.6-1.1 mm long, 1-3-nerved, the nerves sometimes obsolete; upper glume 1.5-2.5 mm long, 3/4 to as long as the upper floret, 5-nerved; lower floret sterile, the lemma as long as the upper floret, 5-7-nerved, the palea absent to 1/2 as long as the upper floret, and narrow; upper floret 1.7-2.3 mm long, 1.0-1.5 mm wide, broadly elliptic to obovate, minutely papillose to nearly smooth"  (Dassanayake, 1994; pp. 408-409).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  "Cultivated and escaping to dry fields, disturbed areas, old clearings, up to 1450 m altitude" (Veldkamp, 1994; pp. 377-378).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Nativity uncertain, but probably Old World; now cultivated sporadically worldwide" (Dassanayake, 1994; pp. 408-409).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	cultivated	Henty, E. E. (1969) (p. 172)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced invasive cultivated	Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (p. 73) Cultivated here and there; occasional as an escape in old clearings.
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 126)
Samoa Western Samoa Islands	Western Samoa Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 96)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 126)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 347)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 126)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 583) "Stony waste land, gardens - from discarded cage-bird seed and seed spillages".
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Maldives Maldive Islands	Maldive Islands		Fosberg, F. R. (1957) (p. 12)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Setaria italica is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Setaria italica as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Setaria italica may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Dassanayake, M. D., gen. ed. 1994. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol VIII. Amerind Pub. Co., New Delhi. 458 pp.

Edgar, E./Connor, H. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, vol. V: Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press. .

Fosberg, F. R. 1957. The Maldive Islands, Indian Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 58. Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington. 37 pp.

Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar. 1980. Grass weeds, vol. 1. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 142 pp. + plates.

Henty, E. E. 1969. A manual of the grasses of New Guinea. Department of Forests, Division of Botany, Botany Bull. No. 1. Lae, New Guinea. 215 pp.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1925. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 1 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 463 pp.

Porcher, Michel H. 2011. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Online resource.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Veldkamp, J. F. 1994. Miscellaneous notes on southeast Asian Gramineae: 9. Setaria and Paspalum. Blumea 39:377-378.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).