Setaria ×pycnocoma ("Oenokoro")

Japanese name: オオエノコロ （大狗尾、大狗子）
Scientific name: Setaria ×pycnocoma

[Overview]
A natural hybrid between foxtail millet (awa) and green foxtail (enokorogusa), an annual 0.4–1.5 m tall with characteristics intermediate between the two.
It is found in grasslands and at woodland edges.
The stem branches at the base.
The leaves are lanceolate, about 15–30 cm long and 0.8–2 cm wide.
The leaves are somewhat thick, and the upper and lower surfaces are not reversed.
An erect, cylindrical to slightly conical inflorescence 6–18 cm long and 1.5–2.5 cm wide is borne at the stem tip.
The inflorescence produces many short branches that bear spikelets densely, and the partial inflorescences are elliptical.
The spikelets are elliptical, 2–3 mm long, and stay pale green even when in fruit.
Long bristles (stiff hairs) beneath the spikelets are conspicuous on the inflorescence, and the hairs are green, sometimes tinged with purple.
Because the joint is below the spikelet rather than below the second floret, if you stick a pin into a floret and pull, the spikelet falls off as a whole.
In the very similar awa and ko-awa, only the florets fall off.

[History]
There was once a theory that it was an intermediate form on the way to becoming awa, but Hitoshi Kihara proved by artificial crossing that it is a hybrid between awa and enokorogusa.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)