38 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 



FOXTAIL MILLET (Setaria italica (L.) (Beauv.) 



Plate 2; Seed, Plate 26, Fig. 3. 

 Other Latin name: Ixophorus italicus (L.) Nash. 



Botanical description: Foxtail Millet is an annual with 

 rather stiff and erect stems, ordinarily from two to four feet high, 

 but sometimes reaching a height of six feet or more. The leaves arc- 

 broad and somewhat similar in size and texture to those of Common 

 Millet. From the latter, however, this plant is easily distinguished, 

 even when very young, by its lack of hairiness. The inflorescence 

 is a contracted panicle, often nodding at the top; on account of its 

 short branches it resembles a spike. Its lower branches, as a rule, 

 are not so close together as the upper ones. The spikelets are 

 crowded and mixed with stiff bristles, the latter representing branches 

 on which no spikelets are developed. These bristles are generally 

 long and often reddish or purplish. They give the panicle the 

 appearance of a foxtail, which is the common name for cultivated 

 millets belonging to the genus Setaria. Each spikelet contains only 

 one flower with a yellow pistil. 



History: It is generally assumed that Foxtail Millets developed 

 in prehistoric time from Green Foxtail or Pigeon Grass (Setaria 

 viridis (L.) Beauv.), which in many parts of Canada is a trouble- 

 some weed; but there seems to be no conclusive proof of this. At 

 any rate, its cultivation goes very far back. It is one of the five 

 holy plants which, according to a command issued 2700 B.C., were 

 sown each year by the emperor of China at a public ceremony. At 

 present it is grown extensively in Central Asia, northern East India, 

 China and Japan. It is also cultivated in southern and eastern 

 Europe, but is there of only secondary importance. 



Varieties : There are a great many so-called varieties of Fox- 

 tail Millet, most of which, however, are not varieties in a botanical 

 sense and are therefore not clearly defined. So-called German Millet 

 illustrates this fact. This variety is so variable in appearance and 

 habit of growth that practically no field is uniform. Hungarian 

 Millet or Hungarian Grass, Japanese Millet, Siberian Millet, Golden 

 Wonder, Holy Terror, Gold Mine, etc., are more or less distinct 

 varieties and yet are not really uniform within themselves. 



