Setaria italica
| Setaria italica | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 1' |
| Width: | 0.3' |
| Blooms: | Late Summer-Mid Fall |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
 | |
Setaria italica (common name: foxtail millet)
Propagation: Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination is usually quick and good. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out in late spring, after the last expected frosts. Whilst this is fine for small quantities, it would be an extremely labour intensive method if larger amounts were to be grown.
The seed can be sown in situ in the middle of spring though it is then later in coming into flower and may not ripen its seed in a cool summer.
Cultivation: Succeeds in any well-drained soil in full sun[1]. Established plants are very drought resistant[2][3].
Often cultivated for its edible seed in tropical and warm temperate areas, there are many named varieties[4]. Because the plant flowers in late summer there are problems with harvesting a good crop of seed in Britain. Apart from that, the plant grows well here.
Range: Asia? The origin is obscure, the plant is a casual in Britain[5].
Habitat: Not known in a truly wild situation.
Edibility: Seed - cooked[6][7][8]. It can be eaten as a sweet or savoury food in all the ways that rice is used, or ground into a flour and made into porridge, cakes, puddings etc[9][4]. The seed can also be sprouted before it is used, when it will become somewhat sweeter[K]. A nutritional analysis is available[10].
Medicinal: The germinated seed of yellow-seeded cultivars is astringent, digestive, emollient and stomachic[11][12][10]. It is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, poor digestion and food stagnancy in the abdomen[11]. White seeds are refrigerant and used in the treatment of cholera and fever[10]. Green seeds are diuretic and strengthening to virility[10].
Pollinators: Wind
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Early Fall-Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Grounds, Roger. Ornamental Grasses. Christopher Helm, 1989.
- ↑ Schery. Robert. Plants for Man. Prentice Hall, 1972.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Nicholson, Barbara and Stephen Harrison. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press, 1975.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Yeung, Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, 1985.
- ↑ Stuart, George. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei Southern Materials Centre.