| Author | (L.) Beauois | |
| Distribution | Scattered in the Piedmont and Mountains. It is unsure whether the Alleghany County record is from escaped plants or planted ones.
Native of Eurasia; in N.A. throughout much of the U.S. and southern Canada. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon, perhaps rare. | |
| Habitat | Roadsides, fields, clearings, disturbed ground. Planted for roadside stabilization and escaped locally. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting July-September. | |
| Identification | Foxtail Millet is robust, up to 3 feet tall, with thick stems and broad leaves. Inflorescences are thick and beset with brown hairs, unlike the green ones of Japanese Bristlegrass (S. faberi). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | The inflorescences of bristlegrasses look like bottlebrushes, due to the numerous bristles that stick out sideways or that angle upward. Two of our 3 native species are annuals; S. parviflora is perennial. When using keys, make sure to have mature fruiting plants and a dissecting scope to see such features as the surface texture on lemmas, number of bristles per spikelet, etc. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Italian Foxtail. | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
