Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also belong to various other taxa.
Panicoideae is the second-largest subfamily of the grasses with over 3,500 species, mainly distributed in warm temperate and tropical regions. It comprises some important agricultural crops, including sugarcane, maize, sorghum, and switchgrass.
Foxtail millet, scientific name Setaria italica, is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidence of foxtail millet cultivation was found along the ancient course of the Yellow River in Cishan, China, carbon dated to be from around 8,000 years before present. Foxtail millet has also been grown in India since antiquity.
Echinochloa crus-galli is a type of wild grass originating from tropical Asia that was formerly classified as a type of panicum grass. It is commonly known as cockspur, barnyard millet, Japanese millet, water grass, common barnyard grass, or simply "barnyard grass". This plant can grow to 60" in height and has long, flat leaves which are often purplish at the base. Most stems are upright, but some will spread out over the ground. Stems are flattened at the base. The seed heads are a distinctive feature, often purplish, with large millet-like seeds in crowded spikelets.
A foxtail is a spikelet or cluster of a grass, that serves to disperse its seeds as a unit. Thus, the foxtail is a type of diaspore or plant dispersal unit. Some grasses that produce a foxtail are themselves called "foxtail", also "spear grass". They can become a health hazard for dogs, cats, and other domestic animals, and a nuisance for people.
In botany, an awn is either a hair- or bristle-like appendage on a larger structure, or in the case of the Asteraceae, a stiff needle-like element of the pappus.
Hordeum jubatum, with common names foxtail barley, bobtail barley, squirreltail barley, and intermediate barley, is a perennial plant species in the grass family Poaceae. It occurs wild mainly in northern North America and adjacent northeastern Siberia. However, as it escaped often from gardens it can be found worldwide in areas with temperate to warm climates, and is considered a weed in many countries. The species is a polyploid and originated via hybridization of an East Asian Hordeum species with a close but extinct relative of Californian H. brachyantherum. It is grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive inflorescences and when done flowering for its inflorescence.
Sclerospora graminicola is a plant pathogen infecting maize and foxtail and pearl millet. Sclerospora graminicola was originally described by Saccardo in 1879 as Protomyces graminicola from infected Setaria verticillata. Schroeter examined infected Setaria viridis and determined that this species should be placed in a new genus that he named Sclerospora. Sclerospora graminicola primarily infects C4 photosynthetic grasses of the subfamily Panicoideae, possibly due to C4 photosynthesis allowing for a greater complexity of carbohydrate substrates.
Setaria faberi, the Japanese bristlegrass, nodding bristle-grass, Chinese foxtail, Chinese millet, giant bristlegrass, giant foxtail or nodding foxtail, is an Asian grass. It is a summer annual, with plants emerging from seeds in the spring, and setting seeds in the late summer or fall.
Setaria is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word seta, meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets.
Bromus madritensis is a species of brome grass known by the common name compact brome. The specific epithet madritensis refers to Madrid, Spain. It has a diploid number of 28.
Alopecurus saccatus is a species of grass known by the common name Pacific foxtail, or Pacific meadow foxtail.
Tuctoria is a genus of three species of grass in the family Poaceae. Spiralgrass is a common name for plants in this genus. These are bunchgrass species that are found in vernal pools of central California and Baja California, Mexico. The plants are annuals that germinate under water in the spring and grow submerged for weeks. After the pools dry down, the grasses initiate a new set of foliage that lasts for one to two months until flowering and fruiting are complete.
Ixophorus is a genus of Latin American plants in the grass family. The only recognized species is Ixophorus unisetus. Some authors have included one or two other species in the genus, such as I. pringlei, but these have more recently been reduced to synonymy. Common names for I. unisetus include crane grass, turkey grass, Honduras grass, Mexican grass, Central America grass, hático (Colombia), zacate blanco, and zacate chompipe (Nicaragua).
Setaria pumila is a species of grass known by many common names, including yellow foxtail, yellow bristle-grass, pigeon grass, and cattail grass. It is native to Europe, but it is known throughout the world as a common weed. It grows in lawns, sidewalks, roadsides, cultivated fields, and many other places. This annual grass grows 20 centimetres to well over 1 metre in height, its mostly hairless stems ranging from green to purple-tinged in color. The leaf blades are hairless on the upper surfaces, twisting, and up to 30 centimetres long. The inflorescence is a stiff, cylindrical bundle of spikelets 2 to 15 centimetres long with short, blunt bristles. The panicle may appear yellow or yellow-tinged.
Setaria verticillata is a species of grass known by the common names hooked bristlegrass, rough bristle-grass and bristly foxtail. It is native to Europe, but it is known on most continents as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It is a hardy bunchgrass which grows in many types of urban, cultivated, and disturbed habitat. It is a weed of many types of agricultural crops, growing in vineyards and fields. Herbicide-resistant strains have been noted.
Setaria parviflora is a species of grass known by the common names marsh bristlegrass, knotroot bristle-grass, bristly foxtail and yellow bristlegrass. It is native to North America, including Mexico and the United States from California to the East Coast, Central America and the West Indies, and South America.
Alloteropsis semialata, known commonly as black seed grass, cockatoo grass, donkersaad gras, swartsaadgras, tweevingergras, and isi quinti, is a perennial grass distributed across much of tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Australia, as well as Papuasia and Madagascar. The genus name Allopteropsis comes from the Greek words "allotrios", meaning "belonging to another", and "opsis", meaning appearance. The specific epithet semialata comes from the Latin "semi" (half) and "ala" (wing), referring to the winged margins of the upper glume.
Elizabeth Anne Kellogg is an American botanist who now works mainly on grasses and cereals, both wild and cultivated. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1983, and was professor of Botanical Studies at the University of Missouri - St. Louis from September 1998 to December 2013. Since 2013 she has been part of the Kellogg Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Missouri, where she is principal investigator In 2020 she was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tragus racemosus, commonly referred to as stalked bur grass, European bur grass, or large carrot seed grass, is a species of grass native to Europe. It is often confused with a similar plant of the same genus, Tragus berteronianus. It is a monocot and is considered a weed in many countries and is a relatively uncommon seed contaminant.
