Facts about Palm Grass

Sylvia

3 years ago

Setaria palmifolia commonly known as Palm Grass is an elegant broad-leaved tropical grass belonging to Poaceae / Gramineae (Grass family). The plant is native to China, southern Japan, Taiwan, the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and south-eastern Asia (i.e. Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines). It has been widely introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and South and Central America. Some of the popular common names of the plant are African palm grass, bristle grass, bristlegrass, broad leaved bristlegrass, broadleaved bristlegrass, Buddha grass, highland pitpit, highlands pitpit, Indian palm grass, knotroot, Malaysian palm grass, palm grass, palm leaf setaria, palmgrass, palm-leaved setaria, pleated pigeon grass, short pitpit and Hailans pitpit.

The name for the genus is from the Latin word ‘seta’ meaning “bristle” referring to the bristles on the spikelets and the specific epithet is in reference to the palm-like look of the leaves. It was first described by the Austrian botanist Otto Stapf in 1914. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is occasionally cultivated for its edible seeds – some improved forms have been developed in New Guinea. It makes an ideal pot plant in the kitchen or bathroom during the winter. During the colder months – even indoors – its leaves tend to yellow and die back. Snip them off as they yellow.

Palm Grass Facts

Palm Grass Quick Facts
Name:	Palm Grass
Scientific Name:	Setaria palmifolia
Origin	China, southern Japan, Taiwan, the Indian Sub-continent and south-eastern Asia
Colors	Pale brown (seed)
Shapes	2 mm long and are egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid), but somewhat flattened.
Health benefits	Good for irregular menses, skin disorders, measles, freckle and blemish and toothache

Name	Palm Grass
Scientific Name	Setaria palmifolia
Native	China, southern Japan, Taiwan, the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and south-eastern Asia (i.e. Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines).It has been widely introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and South and Central America
Common Names	African palm grass, bristle grass, bristlegrass, broad leaved bristlegrass, broadleaved bristlegrass, Buddha grass, highland pitpit, highlands pitpit, Indian palm grass, knotroot, Malaysian palm grass, palm grass, palm leaf setaria, palmgrass, palm-leaved setaria, pleated pigeon grass, short pitpit, Hailans pitpit
Name in Other Languages	Australia: Pleated pigeon grass Chinese: Zong ye gou wei cao (棕葉狗尾草), Zhu tou cao, Zhu ye cao, Zong ye cao, Zong mao, you gou wei cao, zhu ye cao, Zeng ye wei cao, Ruo ye fu, Ji mao, Ji ye cao, Chu mao. Zhu lou cao, Zhu ye cao Dutch: Palmgras English: Highland pitpit, Palm grass, Broadleaved bristlegrass, bigleaf bristlegrass, hailans pitpit, knotroot, palmgrass, short pitpit, Malayan palmgrass, Bristlegrass French: Que de rat German: Palmgras Hindi: Aruna, dhutesaro Indonesia: Lintabung, rumput daun pisang Japanese: Sasa kibi (ササキビ) Malay: Rumput daun pisang, Lintabung (Indonesia) Mizo: Hnahhrat Nepali: Baanspaate Kaaguno (बाँसपाते कागुनो) Papua New Guinea: Kura, pitpit Philippines: Agusas Russian: Shchetinnik pal’molistnyy (щетинник пальмолистный) Samoan: Vao ‘ofe‘ofe Spanish: Pasto de palma, zacate de mula Thai: Ya kap phai (หญ้ากาบไผ่ ) USA/Hawaii: Mau‘u Kaleponi
Plant Growth Habit	Large, tufted, clump-forming, long lived, evergreen, perennial grass
Growing Climates	Mesic valleys, wet forest, open forests, thicket margins, shady path sides, forest fringes, banks of streams, tropical and subtropical rain forests, wet sclerophyll forests, dry sclerophyll forests, Brigalow forests, sub-humid woodlands, semi-arid shrub woodlands, shady path-sides, roadsides, gardens, disturbed sites and waste areas
Soil	Prefers a well-drained but moisture-retentive fertile soil
Plant Size	Up to 1.5 m tall, but occasionally reaching up to 2 m in height
Leaf	Elongated (i.e. linear-elliptic) leaf blades are 40-80 cm long and 3-12 cm wide and are palm-like with a pleated (i.e. plicate) appearance. These leaf blades have rough (i.e. scabrous) but otherwise entire margins and pointed tips
Flowering season	December, January, February, March
Flower	The flower spikelets are arranged in loose branched clusters (i.e. panicles) usually 20-50 cm long and 2-10 cm wide. These clusters may be stiff or slightly drooping in nature with numerous slender branches, the lower ones up to 20 cm long. The individual spikelets are 2-4 mm long and are oval (i.e. ellipsoid) or elongated (i.e. lanceolate) in shape and borne on short stalks (i.e. pedicels) 1-4 mm long
Fruit Shape & Size	2 mm long and are egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid), but somewhat flattened
Fruit Color	Pale brown
Plant Parts Used	Leaves, seeds
Propagation	By Division or seed

Plant Description

Palm Grass is a large, tufted, clump-forming, long lived, evergreen, perennial grass that normally grows up to 1.5 m tall, but occasionally reaching up to 2 m in height. The plant is found growing in mesic valleys, wet forest, open forests, thicket margins, shady path sides, forest fringes, banks of streams, tropical and subtropical rain forests, wet sclerophyll forests, dry sclerophyll forests, Brigalow forests, sub-humid woodlands, semi-arid shrub woodlands, shady path-sides, roadsides, gardens, disturbed sites and waste areas. The plant prefers a well-drained but moisture-retentive fertile soil. The upright flowering stems (i.e. erect culms) are covered in hairs, particularly near their joints (i.e. nodes). They are generally green in color and quite robust and about 3-7 mm thick.

Leaves

The tufted leaves consist of a roughly hairy (i.e. hispid) leaf sheath and a very large spreading leaf blade. The elongated (i.e. linear-elliptic) leaf blades are 40-80 cm long and 3-12 cm wide and are palm-like with a pleated (i.e. plicate) appearance. These leaf blades have rough (i.e. scabrous) but otherwise entire margins and pointed tips (i.e. acuminate apices). Upper surfaces are mostly hairless (i.e. glabrous), while their undersides are hairy (i.e. pubescent). Where the leaf sheath meets the leaf blade there is a dense row of hairs (i.e. ciliate ligule).

Flowers

The flower spikelets are arranged in loose branched clusters (i.e. panicles) usually 20-50 cm long and 2-10 cm wide. These clusters may be stiff or slightly drooping in nature with numerous slender branches, the lower ones up to 20 cm long. The individual spikelets are 2-4 mm long and are oval (i.e. ellipsoid) or elongated (i.e. lanceolate) in shape and borne on short stalks (i.e. pedicels) 1-4 mm long. They are usually subtended by a long bristle (4-10 mm long). Each of these hairless green spikelets consists of a pair of floral bracts (i.e. glumes) and two tiny flowers (i.e. florets). The lower floret has only male parts (i.e. three stamens) or is sterile, while the upper floret has both male and female flower parts (i.e. it is bisexual). Flowering occurs mainly during summer.

Plant-Illustration-of-Palm-Grass

Closer-view-of-flower-spikelets-of-Palm-Grass

Seed-heads-of-Palm-Grass

Leaves-of-Palm-Grass

Palm-Grass-Plants

Sketch-of-Palm-Grass

Palm-Grass-plant-growing-wild

Seeds-of-Palm-Grass

Small-Palm-Grass-plant

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Fruit/ Seed

The mature seeds (i.e. grains or caryopses) are pale brown in color and remain enclosed within the remains of the flower spikelets. These seeds are about 2 mm long and are egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid), but somewhat flattened.

Traditional uses and benefits of Palm Grass

The plant is used medicinally.
It is also used for medicinal purposes, e.g. by the Mek tribes in Iranian Jaya, New Guinea.
In Perak a compound decoction is drunk for irregular menses.
In the Philippines it is mixed with ashes of burned leaves to treat skin disorders.
The Mangyans of Mindoro drink decoction of inflorescence for treatment of measles.
In the Tao Dam forest, Wangkrajae Village in Thailand, rhizome used by natives as ingredient in herbal mix to treat freckle and blemish.
It is used for toothache in Bougainville.

Culinary uses

Seeds are boiled or roasted and used as a substitute for rice.
Hearts of young shoots can be eaten raw, steamed or cooked with rice.
Very young plants are eaten raw as a side dish with rice.
Palm Grass has been used in the past as a human food source and may still be in Papua New Guinea.
Grain of the grass sometimes used as rice substitute.
In Malaya, tender shoots are eaten as vegetable, raw, steamed, or cooked with rice.

Other Facts

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its palm-like pleated leaves.
A folk belief in Taiwan holds that the number of latitudinal creases on the leaf predicts the number of typhoons that will hit the area in the coming or current typhoon season.
It is known locally as typhoon grass.
It is also used as shading material in plant nurseries.
In Papua, New Guinea, the species is used for good fortune when playing cards and for hunting birds.
In New Guinea, leaves used to counter magic spells.

References:

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=41262#null

http://www.hear.org/pier/species/setaria_palmifolia.htm

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=33832

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Setaria+palmifolia

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/119079

https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/SETPA

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-442588

https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/setaria_palmifolia.htm

http://www.stuartxchange.com/Agusais.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setaria_palmifolia

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/5/2/5284