Green Foxtail

Green Foxtail

Weed Flora of Mississippi

Family: Poaceae

Genus: Setaria         Species:   viridis

History: Native to Eurasia. It has many common names, including green foxtail, green bristlegrass, pigeon grass, and wild foxtail millet. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of Setaria italica.

Life Cycle: Summer annual

Special Characteristics: Green foxtail has been proposed as a model to study C4 photosynthesis and related bioenergy grasses. Genetic resources are currently being developed, and a method to break the prolonged seed dormancy has been discovered recently. These could contribute to making green foxtail a monocot genetic model system. Green foxtail is shallow-rooted and typically thrives under conditions of relatively high temperature (68 to 77 F) and moist to wet soil conditions.

Roots: Fibrous roots

Stems: Erect, without hair, bent at the nodes, may be branched at the base, reaching 3 feet in height.

Leaves: Leaves are alternate, 1.5 to 12 inches long, lance-linear, flat, hairless, smooth to slightly rough. Nodes are hairless and green to purplish. Green foxtail leaves are hairless, though they may be slightly rough.

Ligule: Short, dense fringes of hair.

Flower: The seedhead is a cylindrical, bristly panicle, reaching 6 inches in length and 0.33 to 0.67 inch in width. Upright or sometimes nodding; rachis hairy; numerous branches, very short, bearing 5 to 6 spikelets. 

Seeds / Fruit: An average of 900 seeds are produced per plant (with a range from 500 to 2,500 seeds per plant).

Interference: A weed of many agronomic crops, turf, landscapes, and nurseries found throughout the United States. This weed, fortunately, is a very poor competitor.