SETARIA, BEAUV. 



SPIKELETS ovate to oblong, falling entire from the pedicel, subtended by 1 to 

 many persisteut bristles (modified branchlets), which often form a one-sided 

 involucre (see Section Ptychophyllum), subsessile in contracted spike-like or more 

 or less open panicles. Lower floret male, or reduced to the valve, and a more or 

 less arrested pale ; upper floret perfect. 



GLUMES membranous, lower generally much smaller, usually 3 to 5 rarely 1 

 or 7-nerved ; upper usually 5, sometimes 7-nerved. Lower valve more or less 

 exceeding and resembling the upper glume ; upper valve chartaceous to coriaceous, 

 5 nerved. Pales subequal to their valves or that of the lower floret more or less 

 arrested, flat, 2-nerved, hyaline in the lower, of the same substance as the valve 

 in the upper floret. Lodicules 2, broadly cuneate. Stamens 3. Sty es distinct ; 

 stigmas laterally exserted. Grain tightly enckxsed by the hardened valve and 

 pale, oblong or ellipsoid ; hilum basal, punctiform or orbicular ; embryo about half 

 as long as the grain. 



Section 1, Ptychophyllum, BLADES long, plicately folded when young, at 

 length opening out. Panicles almost spike-like or more or less open with elongated 

 branches and crowded or somewhat distant spikelets ; bristles solitary, terminating 

 the branches and branchlets and usually also subtending at least a part of the 

 lateral spike ets, or sometimes in fascicles at the base of the branches. 



S. sulcata ; S. Lindenberyiana. 



Section 2, Eu-Setaria. BLADES not plicately folded when young; panicles 

 usually spike-like and dense or compact, with very short (rarely elongated) 

 branches ; bristles often crowded into more or less one-sided involucres subtending 

 solitary or clustered spikelets. 



S. nigrirostris ; S. Gerrardii ; S. perennis ; S. tigida ; S. imberbis ; S. 

 vzrticillata. 



