Green foxtail

Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.

Scientific name: Setaria viridis (L.) P. Beauv.

Common name(s): green foxtail, green bristlegrass

Links: USDA PLANTS Profile , Go Botany

Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)

Description:

– annual

-leaf blade

  • 4–25 mm in width
  • 3-30 cm in length

-inflorescence is a panicle

  • 1-10 cm long

-elliptic spikelets

-erect culms

– similar to S. faberi, which also occurs in New England

Habitat:

-disturbed sites

-meadows

-fields

Natural History:

-native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia

-introduced to Canada in 1821

-significant weed of grain crops

 

Sources:

Go Botany. “Setaria Viridis (L.) Beauv.” Setaria Viridis (Green Foxtail): Go Botany, National Science Foundation, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/setaria/viridis/.

KEW Science. “Setaria Viridis (L.) P.Beauv.” Plants of the World Online, 2020, www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1171009-2.