General:
Annual grass from fibrous roots, usually freely branched basally; stems ascending to erect, 30-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths keeled, usually hairy at the throats; blades flat to folded, mostly (3) 4-10 mm wide, rough-margined, usually slightly soft-hairy on the upper surfaces; ligules with the membranous basal portions about as long as the fringes, about 1.5 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an erect, cylindrical, interrupted panicle, mostly 5-10 cm long, usually about 1 cm wide when pressed; spikelets 2-flowered, 2-2.5 mm long, each subtended by 1 (2), finely barbed bristle mostly 4-7 mm long, the hairs directed downwards; lower glumes 3-nerved, barely 1/2 as long as the upper ones; lower flowers male or sterile, the upper fertile; sterile flowers with lemmas sharp-pointed and with narrow paleas about 1/2 their length; anthers dark purple, about 1 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Chaetochloa verticillata (L.) Scribn.
Panicum verticillatum L.
Setaria carnei A.S. Hitchc.
Setaria verticillata
Setaria verticillata var. ambigua