YELLOW FOXTAIL
File Size: 79 KB
 
Setaria pumila   (Poir. ) Roem. & J.A. Schultes
[=Setaria glauca  (L. ) Beauv.]
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 12-40 inches
Family: Poaceae - Grass Family
Flowering Period:   June, July, August, September
Also Called: Yellow bristlegrass.
Culms: Erect to ascending, 12 to 40 inches tall, branching at base, flattened, glabrous, often geniculate, sometimes purplish.
Blades: Flat to folded, 4 to 12 inches long and .2 to .5 inch wide, occasionally twisted in loose spiral, glabrous except for scattered long hairs on upper surface close to base.
Sheaths: Prominently flattened, keeled, glabrous, often purplish at base; margins not ciliate.
Ligules: Ciliate membrane.
Inflorescences: Panicle, dense, stiffly erect, cylindric, 2 to 4 inches long; yellowish at maturity.
Spikelets: Broadly ovate, but flat on one side; floret 1, perfect; lemma 1, sterile; 4-12 yellowish-brown to golden-brown bristles at base of each spikelet.
Habitat: Waste areas, disturbed sites, cultivated ground, roadsides, and lawns.
Distribution: Throughout Kansas.
Origin: Naturalized from Eurasia.
Forage Value: Yellow foxtail has fair forage value when immature.
Uses: Birds will consume the seeds.
Comments: A common weed that is one of the first plants to appear in disturbed areas. The bristles have been known to cause mouth injuries in livestock.
 Compare with green foxtail

Yellow foxtail
179 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Yellow foxtail inflorescence
87 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Yellow foxtail ligule
63 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Yellow foxtail
188 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas