190 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Pennisetum italicum R. Br. Prodr. PI. Nov. IIoll. 1: 195. 1810. Based on Panicum 

 italicum L. 



Setaria italica. Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 51, 170, 178. 1812. Based on "Panicum 

 italicum Willd." [P. italicum L.]. 



Setaria californica Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. 1: ed. 2. 26. 1873. ' "From the head 

 valley of the Sacramento River," California. Described as 10 to 12 feet high and 



"quite similar to Setaria italica." It was sup- 

 posed to be native but the description points 

 conclusively to C. italica. 



Chamaeraphis italica Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 

 2: 767. 1891. Based on Panicum italicum L. 



Ixophorus italicus Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 

 22: 423. 1895. Based on Panicum italicum L. 



Chae.tochloa italica Scribn. U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Div. Agrost. Bull. 4: 39. 1897. Based on Pani- 

 cum italicum L. 



For complete synonymy see Hubbard's paper 

 on Setaria italica and its allies. 2 



DESCRIPTION. 



A cultivated form of C. viridis, differing in 

 being more robust, with broader blades, and 

 larger lobate panicles, the fruit (fertile lemma 

 and palea) at maturity falling away from the 

 remainder of the spikelet. 



Commonly known as millet, foxtail millet, 

 and Hungarian grass. There are many varieties 

 in cultivation, differing in the length and color 

 of the bristles, the color of the fruit, and the size 

 and degree of lobing of the panicle or head. 

 The varieties are discussed by Koernicke 3 and 

 by Hubbard. 4 The culm may be as much as 

 1 cm. thick, the blades as much as 3 cm. wide, 

 and the heads as much as 30 cm. long. At 

 maturity the fruit becomes very turgid and 

 spreads apart the glumes and sterile lemma, and 

 is distinctly longer than these. The head, in 

 some forms, becomes heavy and nodding, and 

 distinctly lobate. The color of the fruit varies 

 from tawny to red, brown, and black. The 

 bristles are 1 to 3 times as long as the spikelet, and green, purple, or brown. The 

 fruit is smooth or obscurely cross-wrinkled and may be as much as 3 mm. long. 



In the cultivated forms the rachilla disarticulates above the sterile lemma, so that 

 the fruit at maturity readily falls from the spikelet and hence shells out when the 

 heads are threshed. The plants propagate themselves in fields and waste places and 

 then tend to revert to a more primitive form. These uncultivated plants are often 

 difficult to distinguish from forms of Chaetochloa viridis. This is especially true in 

 immature specimens, as the disarticulation of the fruit is evident only at maturity 

 and even then, in the uncultivated plants, is often less marked. 



Fig. 49. — ChaetocMoi itilica. From Williams 

 S2, District of Columbia. 



1 The Proceedings were first published in a newspaper, 

 Edition 2 is an exact reprint in book form. 



2 Amer. Journ. Bot. 2: 169. 1915. 



3 Koern. & Wern. Handb. Getreid. 1: 270-279. 1885. 



4 Amer. Journ. Bot. 2: 169. 1915. 



"The Pacific," in 1854. 



