Loosely tufted annual; culms 10-50 cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades broadly linear to narrowly lanceolate, 5-20 cm long, 4-12(18) mm wide, rounded at the base, flaccid, smooth or scaberulous; sheaths glabrous to pubescent, sometimes with tubercle-based hairs. Panicle spiciform, linear or sometimes ± lobed below, 2-12 cm long, the rhachis puberulous to hispidulous; bristles 3-12 mm long, antrorsely scabrid. Spikelets ellipsoid, 2-2.5(3) mm long; lower glume a quarter to a third the length of the spikelet; upper glume as long as the spikelet; lower floret barren, its plea about half as long as the lemma; upper lemma finely rugose.

Fl & Fr. Per.: June-September.

Type locality: Europe.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); in the cooler regions of the Old World; introduced to the New World where it has escaped and is considered a weed.

Setaria viridis, Green Bristle Grass, is extremely close to the cultivated Setaria italica. differing mainly in the manner in which the spikelet breaks up. In Setaria viridis, as in other species of Setaria, the spikelet falls entire from the pedicel, but in Setaria italica the glumes and lower lemma persist while only the upper floret is shed.