Setaria verticillata* (L.) Beauv. Ess.Agrost.
51, 171, 178 (1812).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Panicoideae. Paniceae.
Basionym and/or
Replacement Name: Panicum
verticillatum L., Sp. Pl.
(ed. 2) 1: 82 (1762).
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: LT: Europe
(LINN-80.7). LT designated by Belo-Correia & Costa, Revista Biol. (Lisbon)
13: 117–143 (1986); also cited in Sherif & Siddiqi, Fl. Libya 145:
296 (1988).
Recent synonyms:
S. adhaerens, S. carnei.
Key references
(books and floras): [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1
Gramineae (268 as S. carnei), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass,
Grasses of Australia, [2002] J.Wheeler, N.Marchant & M.Lewington, Flora
of the South West (434), [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses
of South Australia (484), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley &
D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (371).
Illustrations:
[2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (485, fig. 419), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs,
R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn
(371).
Habit. Annual.
Rhizomes absent. Culms erect or decumbent, 10–100 cm tall. Mid-culm nodes
glabrous. Ligule a fringed membrane, a ciliate membrane. Leaf-blades flat, 5–30
cm long, 3–16 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface scabrous, glabrous or indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence solid, a panicle. Panicle linear, 2–15 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets 1–3 in the cluster. Involucre composed of bristles. Fertile spikelets
2-flowered, the lower floret barren (rarely male), the upper fertile,
comprising 1 basal sterile florets, comprising 1 fertile floret(s), without
rachilla extension, elliptic, dorsally compressed, 1.5–2.5 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate, hyaline, without keels, 1–3
-nerved. Upper glume ovate, 1.6–2.3 mm long, membranous, without keels, 5–7
-nerved. Florets. Basal sterile florets 1, barren, without significant
palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret 100 % of length of spikelet, membranous,
5–7 -nerved.
Fertile lemma 1–2.3 mm
long, without keel. Lemma apex mucronate.
Continental
Distribution: Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia,
Pacific, North America, and South America.
Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South
Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Norfolk I, Lord Howe.
Western Australia: Fortescue,
Ashburton, Carnarvon, Austin. Irwin, Drummond, Dale, Menzies, Warren,
Avon. Northern
Territory: Victoria River, Central Australia
South. South Australia: Lake Eyre, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula,
Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island,
South-eastern. Queensland: Burke,
Darling Downs, Moreton, Port Curtis, North
Kennedy, Burnett. New South Wales: Central Tablelands, Southern
Tablelands, South-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains, South-Western Plains,
South Far Western Plains. Victoria:
Gippsland Plain, Midlands, Murray
Mallee, Riverina, Volcanic Plain, Wannon, Wimmera. Tasmania:
North East, Midlands, East Coast.
Notes.
Retrorsely scabrid bristles make this species easily recognisable and unique. S.
verticillata var. ambigua, native to Europe,
has antrorse bristles, suggesting that a minor genetic change may be
responsible for the antrorse versus retrorse condition.
Spikelet length and presence or absence of
cilia on the sheath margins has been used to distinguish between S.
verticillata and S. adhaerens, however, these characters cannot be
applied consistently.
Introduced; in
tropical and subtropical rain forests, tropical and subtropical wet sclerophyll
forests, dry sclerophyll forests, Brigalow forests, tropical and subtropical
sub-humid woodlands, semi-arid shrub woodlands, acacia shrublands, eucalypt
shrublands, arid tussock grasslands, arid hummock grasslands, and coastal
grasslands. Flowers mostly Mar.-Oct.
