Green Foxtail
Setaria viridis var. viridis
Found in fields, pastures, roadsides, other disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 35%
- Light
- 4 or more hours of direct sun
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Do not plant. Listed invasive in West Virginia.
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
County records are not available.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Setaria
- Ancyloxypha numitorLeast Skipper
- Dargida diffusaWheat Head Armywotm Moth
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
33BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Setaria
- Acanthis flammeaCommon Redpoll
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Ammospiza leconteiiLeConte's Sparrow
- Anser albifronsGreater White-fronted Goose
- Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
- Branta canadensisCanada Goose
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Calcarius ornatusChestnut-collared Longspur
- Calcarius pictusSmith's Longspur
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
Show all 33
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Dolichonyx oryzivorusBobolink
- Eremophila alpestrisHorned Lark
- Melospiza melodiaSong Sparrow
- Molothrus aterBrown-headed Cowbird
- Passer domesticusHouse Sparrow
- Peucaea aestivalisBachman's Sparrow
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Pooecetes gramineusVesper Sparrow
- Porzana carolinaSora
- Quiscalus quisculaCommon Grackle
- Rallus limicolaVirginia Rail
- Rhynchophanes mccowniiMcCown's Longspur
- Sialia sialisEastern Bluebird
- Spizella passerinaChipping Sparrow
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Sturnus vulgarisEuropean Starling
- Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin
- Tympanuchus phasianellusSharp-tailed Grouse
- Tyrannus tyrannusEastern Kingbird
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- POACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- West Virginia DNR invasive plant list
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications