244 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



erect annual, 2 to 4 feet tall, with a dense, bristly, yel- 

 low or purple head. There are many varieties in culti- 

 vation, differing in the size and lobing of the head, the 

 length and color of the bristles, and the color of the 

 seed. Small forms resemble C. viridis, but may be dis- 

 tinguished by the articulation of the seed. In C. viridis 

 the seed (fruit, that is, the fertile floret) falls from the 

 pedicel inclosed within the glumes. In C. italica the 

 seed readily separates from the 

 glumes b} T an articulation above 

 the sterile lemma. A ripe head 

 of C. italica rubbed between the 

 palms yields free seed. A head 

 of C. viridis will yield entire 

 spikelets. 



FIG. 148. Yellow foxtail, Chaetochloa lutesccns. Plant, X I; two views of spikelet 



and fertile floret, X 10. 



The varieties of Chaetochloa italica cultivated in the United States 

 have been classified as follows 1 (under Setaria italica) : 



Fruit dark colored (reddish or orange to blackish or brownish black). 



Fruit reddish or orange rubrofructa. 



Fruit blackish, brownish black, or purplish black with pale yellowish 



straw lines intermingled, these sometimes predomina.ting_?u'firro/Twcto. 



1 See Hubbard, Amer. Journ. Bot 2 : 187. 1915. 



