350 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



4. Setaria, Beauv. 



Spikelets jointed upon the pedicels, panicle densely racemed or spiked, sur- 

 rounded at the base by a few or many persistent awn-like bristles, which rise 

 below the articulation of the spikelet. 



Species about 10, in temperate and tropical regions. Some species are used 

 as food, especially in China, Japan and India. Several are important forage 

 plants, like the broom corn millet, and Hungarian grass. Three species are 

 weedy in eastern North America. 



Setaria italica, Beauv Italian Millet or Hungarian Grass 



A stout, erect, somewhat glaucous annual, 3-8 feet high, with broad leaves; 

 large, dense, compound, spiciform panicles 3-8 inches in length; nodes bearded, 

 with short, appressed hairs ; leaf-blades lanceolate, narrowed at the base, long- 

 acuminate, 8-16 inches long, ^.to \ l /4 inches wide, scabrous; panicles dense, 

 cylindrical, ^2 to 1% inches in diameter; rachis densely villous; setae 1-3, green 

 or purplish, retrorsely scabrous; spikelets elliptical, strongly convex, \ l /z to 2 

 lines long, obtuse ; second and third glumes about equaling the flowering glume, 

 5-7-nerved ; flowering glume glossy, nearly smooth. Widely cultivated. Quebec 

 to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas. 



Setaria germanica, Beauv. German Millet 



A caespitose annual, from 1-3 feet high, with narrow panicles, about */ 

 inch in diameter, and long, usually purple setae ; some forms approaching Setaria 

 viridis. 



This form is usually regarded as only a variety of the Italian Millet, and 

 is found in cultivation only or perhaps springing up from seed on land cul- 

 tivated the preceding season. The German Millet differs from the Italian in 

 having a more dense or compact, and usually erect panicle or "head." Widely 

 cultivated in most parts of the world. 



Poisonous Properties. Numerous complaints have been made from time to 

 time with reference to poisoning from, millet. 



Dr. Hinebauch states in regard to this trouble that in the winter of 1891 

 and 1892 a disease commonly called millet disease was prevalent to a consider- 

 able extent in North Dakota and that this disease was attended by a death 

 rate of 7-10 per cent. It received the name of millet disease from the fact that 

 from 95 to 98 per cent of the animals that were affected had been fed on millet 

 He says : 



"When millet is fed in considerable quantities it stimulates the kidney to 

 increased action. The urine is light colored and the bladder evacuated every 

 two or three hours, large quantities of water being passed at each time. At 

 the time the first symptoms of lameness were noticed, the kidneys had almost 

 ceased to act." 



And then he goes on to say : 



"When the cause was kept up a sufficient length of time for the reaction 

 to set in, the material which would under normal conditions be secreted by the 

 kidneys was allowed to remain in the system and produce deleterious effects." 



Apparently the condition of the millet had little to do with this action. 

 In a later bulletin on the same subject Dr. Hinebauch reports a more extended 

 investigation, giving considerable experimental data as well as urinary analyses. 



