grass ID from Hooghly 15-7-12 SK1

[surajit koley]

Sir / Madam,

Found this grass beside a railway track.

Species : UNKNOWN

Habit & Habitat : about 4 feet high, beside a railline

Date : 4/7/12

Place : Hooghly

Thank you & Regards,

Surajit Koley

[surajit koley]

Sir,

Could this be a Setaria species? 

Regards,

Surajit Koley

[Gurcharan Singh]

Yes probably Setaria italica

-- 

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ 

[surajit koley]

Thank you Sir for the probable ID of this grass.

Regards,

Surajit Koley

[surajit koley]

Sir,

I am immensely grateful to you for all the ID and identifying key to various grass species. I will give the 'finger test' a try whenever i find the grass again, maybe tomorrow morning. Meanwhile attaching more images of the same grass, recorded on 21/7/12.

Regards,

Surajit Koley

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 7:37 PM, manoj chandran <mach...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Surajit,

It is Setaria verticillata, commonly found in waste places. You can identify it from other species of Setaria from its retrose barbs on the bristles. For this try running your fingers from bottom to top of the inflorescence. If your fingers cannot run smooth, then the barbs are retrose (backward curved). In all other species, you can run your fingers smoothly without any hurdle.

Regards...

Manoj Chandran

[jmgarg1]

Forwarding again for Id confirmation or otherwise please.

Some earlier relevant feedback:

“Yes probably Setaria italica" from Singh ji.          

                

“It is Setaria verticillata, commonly found in waste places. You can identify it from other species of Setaria from its retrose barbs on the bristles. For this try running your fingers from bottom to top of the inflorescence. If your fingers cannot run smooth, then the barbs are retrose (backward curved). In all other species, you can run your fingers smoothly without any hurdle.
Regards...
Manoj Chandran”

 

“I am immensely grateful to you for all the ID and identifying key to various grass species. I will give the 'finger test' a try whenever i find the grass again, maybe tomorrow morning. Meanwhile attaching more images of the same grass, recorded on 21/7/12.
Regards,
Surajit Koley”

--

With regards,
J.M.Garg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1

'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'
The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.

For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1900 members & 1,20,700 messages on 30/6/12) or Efloraofindia website: https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database of more than 7000 species).

Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'. 

[surajit koley]

Sir,

I ran my fingers onto the inflorescence of this grass and found that my fingers did not run smooth, may i say an interrupted ride, and thereby indicating 'retrose' feature, as have been suggested by you.

But, i would like to draw your kind notice on the 'keys' available at 'Flora of China' to identify various Setaria species. Descriptions of leaves sizes of a few Setaria grasses are available there, namely, S. verticillata, S. italica, S. palmifolia, S. arenaria, S. faberi, S. parviflora, S. pumila, S. guizhouensis (two varieties), S. chondrachne, S. forbesiana (two var.), S. intermedia, S. yunnanensis, S. plicata (two var.), and S. viridis (three var.).

Of the above, the leaf size of my species, about 19.5 cm x 3.5 cm, (as can be seen in images no. grass_kmk_DSCN6535.jpg and grass_kmk_DSCN6536.jpg), matches only with Setaria palmifolia (leaf blades... 20-60 cm x 2-7 cm). But at the same time my leaves are not plicate and i think there is no ligule visible.

The leaf-blade size of Setaria verticillata, given in the Flora of China, is 5-20 cm x 0.4-1.8 cm. In Flora of Pakistan it is 5-30 cm x 4-16 mm.

Could you please tell me more about the discrepancies in leaf blades?

Regards,

surajit

[surajit koley]

Garg Sir,

This grass has been identified by Manoj Sir as Setaria verticillata. I ran my fingers over its inflorescence and found its 'retrose' nature.

Thank you & Regards,

surajit

[ushadi Micromini]

Surajit:

I think this is heroic effort on your part to introduce us to the grasses of hooghly..   most of us dont pay attention to them unless we ant to add some texture to our gardens or landscaping... then we tend to go to the tall grasses in Prairie catalogues...


for lst few weeks I have wanted to say thank you for your tenacity... to stick with theis  group that does not ordinarily get spectacular flowers... but are so important...

usha di

==

--
 
 
 

--
Usha di
===========

[surajit koley]

Thank you very much, Usha Di, for your continuous support and help.

Regards,

surajit

[jmgarg1]

A reply:

"Setaria verticillata(L.) P. Beauv." from Nirbhay ji.

For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1900 members & 1,23,300 messages on 31/7/12) or Efloraofindia website: https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database of more than 7000 species).

[jmgarg1]

A reply:

"Setaria italica is the cultivated Foxtail millet. It is much bulkier and the branches are longer. Also, it does not have retrorse barbs.
S.verticillata has retrorse barbs, which Surajit has confirmed by running his fingers on them.

Regarding leaf size, do not go by the keys as most of the descriptions are based on the type specimen and different herbarium collections. But there can be plenty of variation in nature depending on genetics, environment, climate, nutrition, rainfall, season, cattle grazing, soil, etc. Ideally, such descriptions should be based on study of large populations at several localities, but unfortunately these descriptions are just based on a few herbarium specimen. Also the leaf size of upper leaves are shorter than the lower leaves. Usually the middle leaves slightly below the centre are the largest. Along roadsides, which are constantly cleared of grasses and weeds, you can see very dwarf Setarias also which flower even at a few cm height, whereas in undisturbed localities, it grows taller. It can grow to giant size if it grows on fertilized agriculture fields or near a cow dung pit.

Setaria palmifolia, S.paniculifera, S.poiretiana, S.plicata, S.barbata, S.megaphylla, S.homonyma are species not only having plicate leaves, but also has a branched, spreading inflorescence rather than a contracted panicle. S.italica, S.geniculata, S.intermedia, S.verticillata and S.gracillima, S.forbesiana, have contracted panicles, but leaves are not plicate. S.glauca, S.pumila, S.sphacelata and S.viridis also are not plicate leaved, but have very contracted panicles such that they look like a cylindrical spike. Out of these, S.italica is cultivated as a millet and S.sphacelata is cultivated as a fodder grass. Other Setarias mentioned in Flora of China are not reported from India.

Regards...
Manoj Chandran"

On 2 August 2012 09:09, jmgarg1 <jmg...@gmail.com> wrote:

For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1900 members & 1,23,300 messages on 31/7/12) or Efloraofindia website: https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database of more than 7000 species).

[jmgarg1]

A reply:

"Setaria verticillata(L.) P. Beauv" from Dr. Tanvir A. Khan.

[surajit koley]

Sir,

I am indebted to all of you. I cannot forget so much care and time you have extended to me to meet all my queries regarding identification of plants.

I convey my deepest respect to all.

With Regards,

Surajit Koley