ABSTRACT
The grass genus Setaria (subfamily Panicoideae) consists of about 100 mainly annual species that are distributed in tropical to temperate areas of the world. These include a food crop, S. italica (L.) Beauv. (foxtail or birdseed millet); forage grasses, such as the moharia type of S. italica; and wellknown globally distributed weed species, such as S. viridis (L.) Beauv. (green foxtail), S. verticillata (L.) Beauv. (bristly foxtail), S. faberii F. Herm. (giant foxtail), and S. pumila (Poiret) Roemer & Schultes (= S. glauca, yellow foxtail). All these species are C4 plants and originate from Eurasia. The Setaria weeds are major weed pests worldwide (14,29). Setaria italica, a diploid (2n = 18), summer cereal crop is cultivated mainly in China, India, and Japan as a staple food. It is grown sparsely throughout Eurasia for some traditional uses, locally in Europe for birdseed, and in North America, South America, Australia, and North Africa for silage and hay.
