Description

Green Foxtail is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidence of foxtail millet cultivation was found along the ancient course of the Yellow River in Cishan, China, Carbon dated to be from around 8,000 years before present. Foxtail millet has also been grown in India since antiquity.

Characteristics:

Green Foxtail is an annual grass with prostrate or erect stems growing up to a meter long, and known to reach two meters or more at times. The leaf blades are up to 40 cm long and 2.5 wide and glabrous. The inflorescence is a dense, compact, spikelike panicle up to 20 cm long, growing erect or sometimes nodding at the tip only. Spikelets are 1.8-2.2 mm long. Each is subtended by up to three stiff bristles. Its fertile lemmas are finely cross-wrinkled. Green Foxtail is native to Eurasia, but it is known on most continents as an introduced species and often a noxious weed.

Medicinal Uses:

The germinated seed of yellow-seeded cultivars is astringent, digestive, emollient and stomachic[176, 178, 218]. It is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, poor digestion and food stagnancy in the abdomen[176]. White seeds are refrigerant and used in the treatment of cholera and fever[218]. Green seeds are diuretic and strengthening to virility