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Green Foxtail🌾
Setaria viridis
エノコログサ（ネコジャラシ）
One of the most common annual grasses found along roadsides and in vacant lots. Produces cylindrical green to yellowish-brown bristly spikes from summer to autumn. Commonly known as 'neko-jarashi' (cat teaser) in Japan, as children use the spikes to play with cats.
Identification Points
- ✓Cylindrical spike with numerous bristles (awns), giving a fuzzy appearance
- ✓Spike does not droop but tilts slightly
- ✓Leaves are flat and linear
- ✓Stems are slender, under 1 m tall
Habitat
Roadsides, fields, vacant lots
Season
August to October (spikes)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Parallel
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Herb
Petal fusion
No petals
Flowering season
Summer
Habitat
Roadside
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Ovary position
Superior
Phylogenetic Positionイネ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Monocots > Commelinids > Poales > Poaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene (approx. 80–70 million years ago)
Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification