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Setaria pumila

Common name:	Yellow Bristle Grass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	(Poir.)Roem.& Schult.	Botanical references:	50, 58, 200
Synonyms:	Setaria pallide-fusca ((Schumach.)Stapf.& C.E.Hubb.), Setaria lutescens ((Weigel.)Hubb.), Setaria glauca (auct.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	A cosmopolitan plant.
Habitat:	Waste ground, cultivated fields and lowland all over Japan[58].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Chaetochloa glauca[B,G,P] Chaetochloa lutescens[B,G,P] Chamaeraphis glauca[G] Holcus spicatus[G] Panicum americanum[B] Panicum glaucum[B,G,P] Panicum lutescens[G] Panicum pallide-fuscum[G] Panicum pumilum[B,G,P] Pennisetum americanum[B,G] Pennisetum glaucum[B,E,G,HORTIPLEX,P] Pennisetum leonis[G] Pennisetum spicatum[G] Pennisetum typhoides[B,G] Pennisetum typhoides auct. non[P] Pennisetum typhoideum[G] S. glauca sensu[P] S. glauca var. pallidifusca[B,P] S. pallidifusca[B,P] S. pumila ssp. pallidifusca[B]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Foxtail [L], Geelrode Naaldaar [D], Pearl-millet [B], Petit-Mil [E], Pigeon Grass [L], Yellow Bristle Grass [B], Yellow Bristle-grass [L], Yellow Bristlegrass [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	pumila = dwarf
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Haiti Lesotho Ussr
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive, USA Noxious.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.75m. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from August to October, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Seed.

Seed - cooked[105, 177]. It can be eaten as a sweet or savoury food in all the ways that rice is used, or ground into a powder and made into porridge, cakes, puddings etc[183]. The seed contains about 11.5% protein, 6% fat, 40.7% carbohydrate, 8.2% fat[179].
A dust from the fungal infection of plants is eaten[2, 172].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in any well-drained soil in full sun[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination is usually quick and good. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out in late spring, after the last expected frosts. Whilst this is fine for small quantities, it would be an extremely labour intensive method if larger amounts were to be grown.
The seed can be sown in situ in the middle of spring though it is then later in coming into flower and may not ripen its seed in a cool summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Pennisetum glaucum (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Setaria glauca (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Setaria pallide-fusca (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Setaria pumila ssp. pallidifusca (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[58] Ohwi. G. Flora of Japan. (English translation) Smithsonian Institution 1965
The standard work. Brilliant, but not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[172] Schofield. J. J. Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest.
A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

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