Setaria (leucopila)
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Allegra Mount Seed Lab Manager Borderlands Restoration PO Box 1191 Patagonia, Arizona 85624 949-690-2592 borderlands.restoration@gmail.com www.borderlandsrestoration.org |
| Family Scientific Name: | Poaceae | ||
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| Family Common Name: | Grass family | ||
| Scientific Name: | Setaria leucopila (Scribn. & Merr.) K. Schum. | ||
| Common Name: | Streambed Bristlegrass | ||
| Ecotype: | Madrean Archipelago | ||
| General Distribution: |
Found throughout the US southwest in open areas, alluvial flats and floodplains across elevations of 3,000-7,000ft (Lloyd-Reilley 2010). Seeds are an important food source for birds and plants can provide good forage for other wildlife as well (Lloyd-Reilley 2010). |
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| Propagation Goal: | Plants | ||
| Propagation Method: | Seed | ||
| ProductType: | Container (plug) | ||
| Propagule Collection: | Seeds are ripe when the culm and seeds have turned a creamy white color. If they green, they are not yet ripe. Seeds can be collected by running fingers along the seed head to scrape off the seeds. Seeds should pop off fairly easily with firm pressure from fingernails. This method will result in very clean collections that require very little additional cleaning; however, it can be easier to snap off heads and clean the seed later. | ||
| Propagule Processing: |
If collection contains seed heads, place a handful of collected material and rub firmly on sieve #10. This should break the seed off the seed head and push it through the sieve. After pressing all seed through, there may be a small amount of debris left on top of the sieve. Dispose of this. After breaking the seed off the seed head, it is effectively clean. There will likely be some rachis material mixed in with the seeds, but this can be very hard to remove because it tends to stick to the seeds. Winnowing is also not a great option, because seed blows away with the debris. At this time, the MAPP seed facility does not have equipment to fully clean grass seed material down to the grain. Orthodox storage is assumed. |
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| Establishment Phase: |
Plant seed ¼-⅛” deep, keeping in mind that shallower is better (Lloyd-Reilley 2010). Germination for this species is low, with untreated seed germinating at around 1-13% (Sartor and Marone 2010). Dormancy can be broken through warm stratification or through scarification. Warm stratification can be accomplished by subjecting seeds to 45°C/15°C conditions for 8 and 16 hours respectively for 15 days, with following germination rates ranging from 13-40% (Sarton and Marone 2010). Alternatively, seeds can be rubbed about 15 times between two sheets of sandpaper to mechanically break the seed coat. This results in germination percentages of 12-40% (Ferarri and Parera 2015). |
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| References: |
Ferrari, Florencia Noemi, and Carlos Alberto Parera. "Germination of six native perennial grasses that can be used as potential soil cover crops in drip-irrigated vineyards in semiarid environs of Argentina." Journal of Arid Environments 113 (2015): 1-5. Lloyd-Reilley, J. “Plant Guide for Setaria leucopila (Scribn. & Merr.) K. Schum.” USDA NRCS Plant Guide. USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, E. “Kika” de la Garza Plant Materials Center, Kingsville, TX, 2010. Web. https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_sele6.pdf [2017, January 27]. Sartor, C. E., and L. Marone. "A plurality of causal mechanisms explains the persistence or transience of soil seed banks." Journal of arid environments 74.2 (2010): 303-306. Borderlands Restoration Network (2018). BRN Native Plant Materials Program Database. Unpublished Raw Data. |
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Citation:
Allen-Cantú, Juniper; Claverie, Francesca; McNelis, Perin; Mount, Allegra. 2018. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Setaria leucopila (Scribn. & Merr.) K. Schum. Plants Borderlands Restoration Patagonia, Arizona. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/01). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.
