Plains Bristlegrass
Setaria leucopila
Family: Poaceae
Tufted perennial grass with large seeds, growing to about 3’ tall though often smaller. Inflorescences appear May through October. Winter deciduous.
Setaria spp. have inflorescences with short, mostly contracted branches and single-seeded, hard spikelets subtended by persistent bristles that remain on the plant after the spikelets have fallen. S. leucopila is the main perennial Setaria of grasslands in the Southwest and is distinguished by being an often robust, erect perennial.
Full to part sun, best on irrigation.
Granivorous birds love the seeds.
Photo by Edith Bergquist, iNaturalist
Setaria leucopila on SEINET
Setaria is from Latin saeta, a bristle or hair; leucopila is from Greek leukos for bright, clear, or white, and Latin pilus, a hair. There are 140 species distributed in many tropical and temperate regions around the world.
Found in grasslands and open ground, from 3,000-7,000 ft. in the southwestern United States from Arizona and Utah east to Texas and Oklahoma; south into southern Mexico and disjunct in South America.
This is a fresh inflorescence in August, photo by Anthony Mendoza, SEINET
This species reseeds well. Photo by Max Licher, SEINET