Plants perennial. Culms 100-200 cm, nodes villous. Sheaths
sparsely strigose or glabrous; ligules about 2 mm, of hairs; blades
40-60 cm long, 20-80 mm wide, strongly plicate, with scattered hairs on each
surface. Panicles 30-60 cm, lanceoloid; branches 2-5 cm, stiff;
bristles solitary, usually present only below the terminal spikelet on
each branch, occasionally below non-terminal spikelets, 1-1.5 cm. Spikelets
3-3.5 mm. Lower glumes1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined; upper
glumes 2/3 as long as the spikelets, 5-7-veined; lower lemmas equaling
the upper lemmas, 5-veined; lower paleas absent or reduced to a small
scale; upper lemmas about 3 mm, nearly smooth, shiny. 2n = 54.
Setaria megaphylla is a species of tropical Africa and tropical America
that has become established in Florida. Hitchcock (1951) stated that S. poiretiana
(Schult.) Kunth was occasionally cultivated in the United
States, but he was referring to S. megaphylla.