3158 



SETARIA 



SEYMERIA 



Several species are annual weeds, such as YELLOW 

 FOX-TAIL (S. glauca, Beauv.) with oblong yellow spikes, 

 and 5 or more bristles below each spikelet, and GREEN 

 FOX-TAIL (S. viridis, Beauv.), with somewhat pointed 

 green spikes and 1-3 bristles below each spikelet. Many 

 American botanists use the name Chsetochloa instead 

 of Setaria. (Dept. Agric., Div. Agrost., Bull. 21, is 

 devoted to this genus.) The setarias are scarcely horti- 

 cultural subjects, being primarily forage plants; but 

 they are so widespread in cult, and the forms are so 

 confused that a somewhat full discussion of them may 

 be inserted here. 



A. Plant perennial. 



macrostachya, HBK. (S. Alopecurus, Fisch. S. 

 alopecurmdes var. nlgra, of the trade). An erect or 

 ascending perennial: spike slender, tapering at apex; 

 bristles 1 or sometimes 2, J^-l in. long; spikelets r^in. 

 long; first glume one-third to one-half, second two- 

 thirds to three-fourths as long as the equal sterile 

 lemma and fr.; first glume inflated about the base of 

 the spikelet. Texas to S. Amer. 



AA. Plants annual. 



magna, Griseb. A coarse stout native, resembling 

 common millet: spike J^in. thick, as much as a foot long, 

 tapering above and below; bristles 1-3, scarcely J^in. 

 long; spikelets r^in. long, elliptical; first glume one- 

 third as long as second glume and sterile lemma, equal- 

 ing the spikelet; fertile lemma smooth. Marshes of 

 Gulf States as far north as Md. 



italica, Beauv. COMMON MILLET of the U. S. (but not 

 of Eu., this being Panicum miliacewri)', also called 

 GERMAN MILLET and HUNGARIAN GRASS. Culm 3-5 

 ft. high: spike yellow or purple, compound, more or less 

 glomerate; bristles 1-3, often shorter than the spikelet. 

 Thought to have been derived from S. viridis. Gn. 

 12, p. 69. The cult, of millet dates from prehistoric 

 tunes. At present it is raised extensively in parts of 

 Asia as a food-plant. In the U. S. millet is raised for 

 fodder. The "Japanese millets" belong to S. italica, 

 while the "Japanese barnyard millets" are Echino- 

 chloa Crusgalli or E. frumentacea. 



The forms of S. italica may be distinguished from S. 

 viridis by the articulation of the fruit (fertile floret), or 

 what is commercially known as the seed. In the former 

 species the fruit at maturity disarticulates above the 

 glumes and falls away free from them. In S. viridis the 

 fruit falls away surrounded by the glumes. The varie- 

 ties of S. italica have been classified by Hubbard 

 (Amer. Journ. Bot. 2:187.1915) as follows: 



A. Fr. yellowish to straw or light 'mown. (Stramineo- 



fructa.) 



B. Bristles green. 

 c. Panicle more or less open-lobulate. 



Subsp. stramineofrilcta, Hubb. Bristles noticeably 

 longer than spikelets: a large plant with heads 4-12 in. 

 long, and as much as 2 in. wide, usually strongly lobed. 

 This is one of the forms cult, as German millet. Forma 

 breviseta, Hubb. Bristles shorter than the spikelets or 

 barely exceeding them. Cult, as Golden Wonder millet. 



cc. Panicle dense or slightly lobulate at base. 



Sub var. germanica, Hubb. Bristles noticeably 

 longer than spikelets: head usually 2-3 in. long, Y^-Yiva.. 

 broad. One of the forms cult, as common millet. 



BB. Bristles purple. 

 c. Panicle more or less lobulate. 



Var. Hdstii, Hubb. Head large, lobulate, purple. 

 Cult, as German millet. 



cc. Panicle dense or slightly lobulate at base. 



Subvar. Metzgeri, Hubb. Bristles noticeably longer 

 than spikelets. Cult, as common millet, a common 



form. Sometimes called Hungarian grass, a name that 

 should apply to var. atra (see below). 



BBB. Bristles brown. 



Var. brunneoseta, Hubb. Head large, lobulate, 

 brown. Aino millet, occasionally cult. Subvar. densior, 

 Hubb. Head compact, scarcely lobulate. Another 

 form of Aino millet. 



AA. Fr. reddish or orange. (Rubrofructa.) 

 Subsp. rubrofrilcta, Hubb. The form cult, in U. S. is 

 var. purpureoseta, Hubb., with lobulate head and purple 

 bristles. Turkestan millet. Subvar. violacea, Hubb., 

 with dense head and purple bristles. Kursk millet. 

 Siberian millet. 



AAA. Fr. blackish, brownish black or purplish black with 

 pale yellowish straw lines intermingled, these some- 

 times predominating. (Nigrofructa.) 



Subsp. nigrofrilcta, Hubb. The common form cult, 

 in U. S. is var. atra with small dense heads, 1-3 in. long, 

 with purple-brown bristles. Commonly cult, as Hun- 

 garian grass. 



Many other varieties are cult, in the Old World. 



A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



SEVERINIA (named for M. A. Severino, a Neapoli- 

 tan) . Rutacese, tribe Citrese. Small woody plants dis- 

 tantly related to the orange. 



Spiny shrubs or small trees with short and stiff 

 branches: spines single, at one side of the bud in the 

 axils of the Ivs. : Ivs. simple, conspicuously veined, borne 

 on short apterous petioles: fls. 5-merous, occurring 2 or 

 3 together in the axils of the Ivs.; petals small, white; 

 stamens 10, free; ovary 2-celled, with 1 ovule in each 

 cell: fr. a small nearly globular berry, black when 

 mature. Only one species is known, usually called 

 Atalantia buxifolia, native to S. China and Formosa. 

 See Swingle, in Journ. W T ash. Acad. Sci., Vol. 6, No. 19. 

 1916. 



buxifolia, Ten. (Citrus buxifolia, Poir. Limonia 

 bilocularis, Roxbg. Sclerostylis buxifolia, Benth. Ata- 

 lantia buxifolia, Oliver). A spiny shrub or dwarf tree 

 native to S. China, intro. into cult, in Eu. late in the 

 18th or early in the 19th century and often considered 

 by botanists to belong to the genus Atalantia, from 

 which it differs widely in the character of the fr. which 

 is a black berry, the ovary walls becoming succulent as 

 the fr. ripens: Ivs. simple, obovate-oblong, very obtuse 

 or emarginate, \Yz in- long, having numerous fine veins; 

 spines solitary: fls. axillary, in fascicles or solitary, 

 small, subsessile; stamens 10, free: fr. a true berry, 

 becoming more or less fleshy at maturity, turning black, 

 2 (or sometimes 3) -celled, each cell containing a single 

 seed, cells not filled with gum or pulp vescicles; seed- 

 lings with subterranean cotyledons, first Ivs. very small, 

 spirally arranged. 111. Seemann, Bqt. Voy. Herald, pi. 

 81; Penzig, Studi bot. sugli agrumi, AtL, pi. 11, figs. 

 6-17; Swingle in Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., Vol. 6, No. 

 19. 1916. This plant, which has Ivs. resembling the 

 box (Buxus sempervirens} is common in S. China and 

 Hongkong, and occurs also in Formosa. It is grown in 

 botanic gardens and Eu. and has been intro. in this 

 country. It is erroneously listed by some nursery firms 

 as Triphasia monophylla. It is sometimes used as a 

 hedge-plant in La. and other Gulf states, and is well 

 adapted for this purpose, as it does not grow to large 

 size and has very spiny forms that can be prop, from 

 cuttings. It is being tested by the Dept. Agric. as a 

 stock for the cult, citrous frs., as it is able to thrive in 

 soils too salty to permit Citrus to grow. 



WALTER T. SWINGLE. 



SEYMERIA (named in honor of Henry Seymer, an 

 English naturalist). Scrophulariacex. Erect branched 

 annual or perennial, mostly hardy herbs, used for bed- 

 ding on account of their fls. : Ivs. mostly opposite, incise- 

 dentate or dissected, the uppermost floral ones reduced 



