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Setaria grisebachii - Grisebach's bristlegrass

Scientific Family
Poaceae
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No

Grass Description

Origin
Native
Season
Warm

Found on rocky slopes, washes, and in open woodlands.

Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Grasslands
Low elevation
2000
High elevation
6500

General Description

Distinguished by being an annual with densely hairy sheaths; loose, interrupted seedheads which taper toward the apex; 1 to 2 bristles below each spikelet; finely wrinkled lemmas.

Annual, 6 to 20 inches tall; seedheads loosely spike-like, interrupted, often purple, tapering at apex; bristles subtend spikelets; stems often bent, spreading, branching at the base; sheaths densely hairy; internodes smooth nodes microscopically hairy.

Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
Yes
Stolons
Yes
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - open and spreading
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
August
Last bloom month
December

Flower Characteristics

Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes

Panicles 1 to 6 inches long,loosely flowered and tapering to a point; spikelets 1/16 inch long; lower glumes about one third as long as the spikelets, distinctly 3-veined.

Vegetative Characteristics

Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat

Blades lance-shaped, widest below mid-point of the blade, tapering to a point, 1/16 to 1/2 inch wide; leaf blades mostly flat, more or less hairy, scabrous, roughened or wrinkled.

Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Hairy
Auricles
No

Not available.