Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Setaria geniculata (Lam.) Beauv.
- Family: Grass (Poaceae)
- Flowering: May-October
- Field Marks: This Setaria differs from all others in the genus by its smooth sheaths and presence of rhizomes.
- Habitat: Pinelands, roadsides, shifting coastal sands, brackish or fresh shores, flatwoods, sand hills, disturbed areas.
- Habit: Tufted perennial grass with slender rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, green to purplish, unbranched, smooth, up to 2 1/2 feet long.
- Leaves: Elongated, ascending, up to 1/3 inch wide; sheaths smooth along the margins.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets crowded into a dense, cylindrical, spike-like panicle; spikelets up to 1/10 inch long, subtended by 4-8 bristles.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Grains: Ellipsoid, enclosed by the persisting scales.
Previous Species -- Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
