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: German millet, Hungarian millet, Italian millet, foxtail bristlegrass, foxtail 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. (2013)
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	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
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 Island	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)

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)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Setaria italica, please let us know.