Foxtails - Green/Giant/Yellow
There are 3 different types of foxtails found commonly in Ontario: Green, Yellow, and Giant.
Scientific Names: Green foxtail, Setaria viridis (L.) Beauv.; Giant foxtail, Setaria faberii Herrm.; Yellow foxtail, Setaria glauca (L.) Beauv.
Other Names
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Sétaire verte
- Bottle brush
- Bottle grass
- Bristle grass
- Foxtail millet
- Millet
- Pigeon grass
- Wild millet
- Mil sauvage
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- Sétaire géante
- Sétaire de Faber
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- Sétaire glauque
- Bottle brush
- Bottle grass
- Bristle grass
- Millet
- Pigeon grass
- Wild millet
- Sétaire jaune
- Foin sauvage
- Mil sauvage
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Family: Grass Family (Gramineae)
General Description: Annual, reproducing only by seed.
Habitat
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Very common and widespread throughout all agricultural regions of Ontario
- Grows well in all soil textures and occurs in cultivated lands, waste places, roadsides, gardens and occasionally lawns
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- Native to China, recently introduced from the USA
- Becoming abundant in fields and waste places in southern and eastern Ontario
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- Occurs throughout the agricultural regions of Ontario
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Seedlings
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Looks hairless but hairs are present in the margins
- New leaves appear rolled up on emergence
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- Hairs on the upper surface and margins of the leaves
- New leaves appear rolled up on emergence
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- Hairless until the 3rd leaf stage
- New leaves appear rolled up on emergence
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Stems
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Erect or spreading
- 10- 100 cm (4- 40 in.) or taller
- Usually round in cross-section; can be flattened
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Leaves
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Upper leaf blades and sheaths mostly without hair
- Margins and surface of blades rough with very find barbs
- Leaf sheath split with overlapping margins, fringed with a band or short hair
- Ligule a fringe of hair
- No auricles
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- Leaf sheaths mostly smooth; blades finely hairy on the upper surface
- Hairy along the margins
- Ligule a dense band of hairs
- No auricles
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- A few prominent, silky, kinky hairs on the upper surface of the leaf blade just near the stem
- Leaf sheaths split, their margins smooth, green or slightly membranous and transparent
- Ligule a fringe of hair
- No auricles
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Flowers
| Green Foxtail |
Giant Foxtail |
Yellow Foxtail |
- Inflorescence: very dense spike 1- 15 cm (2/5- 6 in.) long and 0.6- 0.2 cm (1/4- 4/5 in.) wide; usually straight and erect, rarely somewhat curved; covered with short green to slightly purplish bristles
- Spikelets: borne singly at the ends of the tiny branches; 2.5- 2.7 cm (1/10 in.) long; 1.0- 1.1 mm (1/25 in.) wide
- Seeds: 1.8- 2.0 mm (1/14- 1/12 in.) long; 0.9- 1.0 mm (1/25 in.) wide; grey-brown with 5 parallel beige veins
- Flowers from August to September
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- Inflorescence: dense, spike-like, erect or somewhat curved; 4.5- 17 cm (1 4/5- 6 7/10 in.) long by 1.5- 3 cm (3/5- 1 1/5 in.) thick; surrounded by light yellowish-green awn-like bristles
- Spikelets: 1.5- 3 mm (1/16- 1/8 in.) long
- Seeds: light green; abundantly cross-wrinkled
- Flowers from late July to October
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- Inflorescence: 2- 10 cm (4/5- 4 in.) long: covered with numerous yellow to orange bristles with forward-pointing barbs
- Seeds: slightly larger than green foxtail; more prominently cross-ridged; yellowish
- Flowers from July to August
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Often Confused With
Fall Panicum (Distinguished by the location of hairs; fall panicum- lower surface of leaf blade; foxtails- upper surface or no hairs)
